Over a week-long break over Thanksgiving without a game, Jaylin Williams went home to his family in Georgia. The Auburn forward ate Thanksgiving dinner at his cousin’s house and tried explaining the Iron Bowl to his family before bringing them to the game Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“Last time we had off like this was my freshman year, about 30 years ago,” Williams said.

Well, it wasn’t quite that long ago. This was Auburn’s longest break over Thanksgiving since Williams’ sophomore year. In both 2021 and 2022, Auburn played in early-season tournaments that took place over Thanksgiving.

This year, between last Tuesday’s game at home against Alabama A&M and Wednesday’s upcoming matchup against Virginia Tech at Neville Arena — set to tip off at 8:15 on ESPN2 — Auburn received what head coach Bruce Pearl said was an exciting time to rest.

But Pearl said with time off and time away comes concern over maintaining momentum from four straight wins.

“I hope we’re not rusty,” Pearl said at a press conference Tuesday. “We can’t afford to be rusty, because they’re so sharp. But we came back Saturday morning, and we had three pretty hard days. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were really good, hard practices. We actually got up and down a lot, because I felt like we needed to play.”

Auburn already played its early season tournament this year, going to Brooklyn and winning the Legends Classic the week before Thanksgiving. Auburn then came home to play Alabama A&M four days after lifting the trophy in New York. After the game Tuesday, Auburn was off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before a Saturday morning practice ahead of the Iron Bowl.

Pearl said he spent the time sitting back and watching basketball without having to think about a game of his own.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I liked it,” Pearl said.

But that meant Pearl wanted to push his team when it came back together. He was frustrated with the effort his team showed in the second half against Alabama A&M before it went away for the holiday — losing the second half after being up 49-15 at halftime.

“I wish we had a game, we practiced so hard just running up and down to stay in shape and be able to compete tomorrow night,” Williams said.

The Hokies did not have Thanksgiving off, playing Thursday, Friday and Sunday last week. Virginia Tech beat Boise State and Iowa State before losing by 34 to now-No. 13 FAU.

KenPom ranks the Hokies as the 66th overall team in America — Auburn is 16th — with the 40th rated adjusted offense and 104th rated adjusted defense, as of Tuesday.

So it will take ensuring Auburn is not rusty against a team that can score just as efficiently as Auburn has so far this season.

“You don’t want to spend too much time off your legs because I think Virginia Tech just played three games in four days,” Auburn center Dylan Cardwell said Tuesday. “They’ll come in here sharp. Maybe a little fatigued, but they’ll come in here sharp. We just need to make sure that having off, not playing for a week before we play Virginia Tech, we need to be on our Ps and Qs.”

And Pearl said not only can his team not afford to be rusty against Virginia Tech, it certainly can’t let any rust linger as it immediately turns around for a true road game in Boone, North Carolina, against Appalachian State.

Pearl said a key to beating Virginia Tech will be running its shooters off the 3-point line and defending without fouling — Virginia Tech is one of the top 15 free throw shooting teams in the country.

Shedding rust from a long break will be paramount in a game where Auburn needs to play well defensive as Pearl described, but consistent defense has been where Auburn has struggled thus far.

“When we defend without fouling, I think we’re better,” Pearl said. “I think we’re flying around a little bit. Look, defense and rebounding win championships.”

“I know I have a team that can score. Now, against Virginia Tech, we have to take care of the ball, because they’re not gonna let us get to spots. They’re gonna be physical in getting through screens. They’ll be in the right spots against their ball-screen stuff. We can’t slop through things. I know we’ll give great effort and energy guarding Virginia Tech, because you have to. And we’ve made progress. And I think the kids have had some fun, at times, making it difficult for people to run their stuff.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]