Milestone for Bruce Pearl: 500th career win

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn Tigers gave coach Bruce Pearl his 500th win, but it didn't come easily.

T.J. Dunans scored 12 points, including a jump shot with 38 seconds left, and Auburn held off LSU 78-74 on Wednesday night to make sure the celebration didn't have to be postponed.

Auburn (12-6, 2-4 SEC) lost most of a 15-point second-half lead before regrouping. Auburn, which had lost four of its last five games, had five players score in double digits.

The result was Pearl's milestone victory, making him the third active SEC coach with 500 wins along with Kentucky's John Calipari and Tennessee's Rick Barnes.

Pearl was 145-61 in six seasons at Tennessee (2005-11) before being fired after the 2010-11 season for NCAA violations. He later received a three-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA.

Pearl is in his third season at Auburn.

"I'm really glad they didn't have to hide this banner in the closet," Pearl said. "I had no idea that they were going to do all this."

His daughter came into town from Atlanta and friends from his first head coaching job at Division II Southern Indiana 22 seasons ago also made the trip.

Former Auburn and NBA star Charles Barkley presented Pearl with a "500" jersey during a postgame ceremony, and the players donned T-shirts proclaiming: "Congratulations coach Pearl on 500 wins."

"It means a lot to be a part of that," Spencer said. "Coach (Chuck) Person said 30 years from now looking back at that celebration, not many people can be involved in that."