Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl collected his second SEC Tournament title at Auburn on Sunday afternoon as his Tigers beat the Florida Gators 86-67.

Here’s everything Auburn’s head coach had to say after the championship-winning game:

Opening statement: “A couple things. Before the game, Coach Golden came to my locker room. We had a little exchange. That rarely happens before a basketball game. ‘Cause sometimes that’s sacred space. But Todd knew that he could come in and we could hug each other, congratulate each other on being in the game.

Weren’t looking forward to playing against each other. Neither one of us wanted to be the gracious loser. I’m just so proud of Todd. What a great team. That’s a really, really good team. Their fourth game in four days could have been a factor. So congratulations to Florida on a tremendous, tremendous season.

The markings of a great program, the character and culture of the players. These guys have been really easy to support, all right? They have been really easy to support. Johni could have gone anywhere in the country, could have left a year ago. Wanted to graduate, be an Auburn man. I know he’s glad he did, because he did it for his family but also for Auburn.

Chad, taking advantage of this opportunity. Sometimes young people just aren’t as grateful. Part of the reason why I got emotional is I’m just grateful, blessed. I love that about our team and I love that about our guys, right?

Winning the championship this year means even more because the league was so good. I was telling Garth before, I told my son, we won a few of these. I think this one is the most special. Maybe it’s because it’s in my 10th year here at Auburn or because the bond that this team had. I wanted it really badly for these guys, or maybe just the fact that this league was that good.

Proud of my team.

Last thing, my coaching staff. Our staff was amazing. To have three preparations in three days, to be spot on with what needed to be done, the guys locking in. Johni came in and practiced this morning. I won’t tell you exactly what he said, but it was wake the…up, and let’s get to work.

When your players are doing that, they know. He knew when he went upstairs to go to bed, he knew where his coaches were. When you got up this morning, where were the coaches? In the room trying to get them ready.

It’s a beautiful thing when players and coaches respect each other and know that they could not accomplish it without each other. Could not accomplish it without each other.”

On why he took a timeout with eight minutes to play: ”I wanted to break the momentum. I thought Florida could potentially go for another run. Fatigue was a factor, it being their fourth game. I didn’t want to have many stoppages in play. I debated it.

I thought they missed it, so I wanted to let it stew for a little while. It was a big miss. We just didn’t want them to go on a run. I didn’t want to give Florida that momentum, you know?

We got organized and settled down a little bit.”

On the showing of Auburn fans in Nashville: ”I’ve got respect for the history of basketball. The SEC tournament for years was Kentucky’s spring break. That’s what everybody knew it as, whether it be Catlanta or Nashville. I admire that.

When I was at Tennessee, we traveled some. This is different. I keep telling people, Auburn is really a special place. We’re an everything school.

We put the call out. We were playing for a championship. You don’t play for a championship very often. It’s a Sunday. Most of the people in Alabama are in church on Sunday morning. Thank goodness, because they have their phone, you can now watch church online.

So all the Auburn family got in their cars, they drove up north from north Alabama, central Alabama, south Alabama, they put Church of the Highlands on there, they put Auburn Community Church on there, and they put their church on there, and they watched and listened. I’m sure they asked the Lord for some favor, which I don’t often do, but I actually did a little bit today.

No, it’s great. It’s the reason why College GameDay has been at Auburn four years in a row. It’s the reason why. You need to almost make that statement to the SEC office and to the leadership there, that when they see that, they recognize that we’ve got a great program.

I don’t know what it does, but I want Auburn to be one of the better programs in the SEC. I want our commissioner to believe that. I want his assistant, Garth, to believe that. And I want our fans to believe that. I want to believe that.

The only way you can really do it is by consistently being competitive, honoring the way the kids play, hard, the right way. Just look at this arena. Very important.”

On stopping Florida’s offense and the injury to Micah Handlogten: ”I think part of it was four games in four days. Florida had three great wins. The teams they played against to get to the championship game… They played great basketball. I’m sure fatigue was a factor.

When Micah goes down, that hurts their depth even more.

I will just say this now, guys. That arena got quiet. Both teams came over to the bench and both teams got in a prayer. My team pastor, Jeremy Napier, prayed with tears. He came from Marshall where Micah was playing, knew Micah and knew the family. He was praying. We were circled up.

That’s the SEC. That’s folks down here in the South. I wish there were more places in the world like it. But I hate that the young man got hurt. Again, it’s a testament to our fans and the respect we have amongst our programs.”

On the recent contributions of Chris Moore: “I don’t think Chris would mind me sharing this with you because it’s just true. He’s such a great competitor. Obviously a four-year guy. You don’t see many of those guys around as much anymore.

But Chris wants to win so much for everybody else. He wants to please so much for everybody else. Sometimes he puts so much pressure on himself that he wasn’t playing the game, he wasn’t playing with confidence because he didn’t want to let everybody down.

I said, Chris, this is a game. A game. Have fun. It’s okay to make mistakes. And because you are putting so much pressure on yourself, you’re right, you’re not playing well. You’re right.

Because I moved Lior Berman ahead of him. I said, ‘Chris, you’re going to get another shot at this. You are.’

He said, ‘Coach, I know I am.’

I said, ‘Just remember don’t be afraid to fail. It’s okay.’

Man, he’s playing hard. He’s playing physical. Listen, he never lost his voice in the locker room. He never lost respect of the players even when he was on the bench and he led from the bench with his attitude.

He would have been fine if Lior Berman was out there playing today. He would have been the first guy off the bench. He saw his opportunity and he took advantage of it. You have to be ready when your opportunity comes. If you fail, just learn from it. You’re going to get another chance. What would you do differently this time? I think right now Chris Moore is doing things differently.”

On fifth-year senior Jaylin Williams: ”He’s won championships before. I think this probably means a lot to him because of him being a senior, a graduate of the university. He obviously is really important.

I like to think our front line is as good as anybody in college basketball. When you talk about Dylan and Johni and Jaylin and Chaney, those four guys together. Again, don’t forget one of the things, you look at the stat sheet, they got to play the most minutes of the game for us with Johni Broome at 24. Everybody has double-digit minutes. The fewest minutes played was 15 and change.

You heard the guys talking about the willingness to share it. A lot of guys want to play 35, they want all the shots. That’s fine. That’s fine. But it doesn’t always translate to winning and it doesn’t translate to having a great locker room.”

On winning his second SEC Tournament title at Auburn: “You got to be a servant leader. Obviously leading by example. The thing they both talked about, I am there before anybody else. But I’m paid to be there before anybody else. They also know that I don’t always get it right. They know I make mistakes.

But I think they know I’m doing to it the best of my ability. I’ve got to overcome some of the crazy things they do, some of the decisions they make. They got to overcome me, too. We forgive each other.

I thought Johni Broome was particularly locked in today. Didn’t have a great game yesterday. We talked about it a little bit. He was accountable for it. Mississippi State was double-teaming him. Tolu had one foul the whole game. Johni was in foul trouble.

Sometimes the kids get sensitive about that stuff. I think he kind of learned from it. We hung in there together. He’s shown great leadership.

Denver Jones could have easily been on that all-tournament team. Do not sleep on Denver Jones. I told him after the game, Thank you for your patience. Because, again, he was the leading scorer in his conference a year ago. He’s our best, I’d say, defensive guard. There are lots of things he could do better, but he can really score. He’s playing great right now. What a tremendous piece.

I thought our young point guards both played well. Didn’t turn the ball over well. Both Tre and Aden made some shots that made a big difference. Again, they’re both sharing it. I’m sure they would each like to play 30 minutes, everybody would like to start.

I guess it’s very much the sum of our parts.”

On how Auburn’s depth has helped down the stretch: “I think obviously you look at the shared minutes and the shared roles. But the biggest thing is I told the returning guys, You’re going to like Chaney Johnson. You’re going to want to be really good friends with Denver Jones. You want to play point with Aden Holloway out there as your point guard. Chad Baker-Mazara is special. They’re all good guys. Going to fit in.

To get those guys, you know what I told them, You’re going to like playing with Johni Broome. You will never meet a better man than Dylan Cardwell. Chris Moore is as tough as they get. Jaylin Williams, as unselfish as they get. Tre Donaldson, a hard worker. As a result, we get what we deserve sometimes in terms of making the decisions of having the quality.

Then there’s staff. Who do you surround yourself with? You want to judge me? Start off by judging me by my wife first and foremost. Judge me by the company I keep. I’m willing to be judged by my staff. I’ve got as good a staff as there is in college basketball.

By the way, Steven Pearl had South Carolina. His team of coaches, Chad Prewett, Corey Williams, their team of coaches, had Mississippi State. It just worked out that Ira Bowman and Mike Burgomaster with their team. I split my staff up in threes. We had three fantastic preparations.

I tell you, as a head coach, I’ve got to do each one of ‘em. Coming into those meetings after a victory, you got to get me on Mississippi State quickly because I got to get it to the team. My staff did a tremendous job. The players did a good job going to work.

I asked them this morning. Yesterday we were a little rushed. We had 8:00 breakfast. I said, ‘I need another half hour, 45 minutes. What do you guys want to do?’ They said, ‘Let’s get up earlier, meet at 7:15.’

I said, ‘We can stay at 8 if you want to, have a little less time to rest before the game.’

They said, ‘No, coach, let’s get up earlier, get our work in, take care of business.’”