Bruce Pearl's son, Steven gets candid about "probably greatest team in Auburn history" days after March Madness exit

The Auburn Tigers, coached by Bruce Pearl, were not successful in their pursuit of a national title during the 2024-2025 season. Despite being the No. 1 overall seed in this year's national tournament, they lost to the eventual champion Florida Gators by six points, 79-73, in their NCAA Final Four matchup.

Now that there has been some time to heal from the loss, Bruce Pearl's son and associate coach Steven Pearl got candid during an interview on "The Next Round" show on Wednesday as he detailed the squad's closeness through the campaign amid tough circumstances.

"I just think that the amount of time they spent together in the summer with breakfast club and bible study allowed them to be able to handle that situation, handle being down 18 to Iowa State, handle Johni (Broome) getting hurt with 12 minutes left in the South Carolina game," Pearl shared. (0:35)

"To win that game and win the next two against ranked opponents without him, to be able to lose two games in the end of the last season, three of the last four against three really good teams, get past that, and then go make a run to the Final Four, it just spoke to how close this group was, how much they leaned on each other and trust each other," he added.

The younger Pearl then made a bold claim about the 2024-2025 roster to cap off his sentiments.

"We had the ability to deal with some adverse situations throughout the year and still found a way to win three separate championships, make it to a Final Four. It was a joy to coach that group. Obviously, I'm gonna miss a lot of those guys. But, they made their mark on Auburn basketball. It's a team that'll forever be remembered as probably the greatest team in Auburn basketball history," he claimed. (1:24)

Auburn finished with an overall record of 32-6, 15-3 during conference play, en route to them bringing home the 2025 SEC regular season championship earlier in the year.

Bruce Pearl's Auburn Tigers dealt with an internal scuffle early in the 2024-2025 season

One of the "adverse situations" Steven Pearl was alluding to was an internal scuffle between two players on the team plane as they were headed to the Houston Cougars' home floor for a nonconference game back in November of 2024.

The plane turned back due to the incident, and the team arrived in Houston later than expected. The Auburn Tigers still ended up winning that away game, 74-69.

Instead of tearing Bruce Pearl's team apart, this incident may have helped toward Auburn's relatively successful 2024-2025 campaign. They became the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the nation throughout the year, just missing out on the national championship, which would've been the first in program history.