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Postgame Pod: Auburn defeats South Alabama 78-67 · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:07
  And welcome on in everybody here to the
• 0:08
  postgame pod at Auburn Undercover.
• 0:11
  Nathan King joined by Patrick Bingham.
• 0:14
  Uh it's no longer St. Patrick's Day.
• 0:16
  >> Um if you're because because we've now
• 0:18
  moved past uh we've now moved past
• 0:20
  Tuesday into early early points of
• 0:22
  Wednesday morning. Um and we are here
• 0:24
  again in Neville Arena. And obviously
• 0:26
  that's not something we necessarily
• 0:27
  expected. Um, but Auburn, as as
• 0:30
  everybody knows, you know, they they
• 0:31
  accepted their NIT bid and quickly
• 0:34
  turned around to host some basketball
• 0:35
  games, plural they hoped, here inside of
• 0:38
  Neville Arena. And it didn't look all
• 0:40
  that promising early on against South
• 0:42
  Alabama. Looked like Auburn was the team
• 0:44
  that everybody, I think, comes to expect
• 0:46
  in the NIT every year. It's like, oh,
• 0:47
  one of the top seeds is disappointed
• 0:49
  they didn't make the tournament and
• 0:50
  they're going to play flat.
• 0:51
  >> Um, trailed by 11 close to close to
• 0:54
  halftime. Um, but ended up taking a win
• 0:56
  here on Tuesday night inside of Neville
• 0:57
  Arena. 78 to67 over the Jaguars. And
• 1:01
  Patrick, I thought it was important for
• 1:05
  Steven Pearl to be very transparent
• 1:06
  postgame about kind of what went down
• 1:09
  early on. And look, that's not to say
• 1:10
  South Alabama isn't a quality team. They
• 1:11
  won 11 games in their league. Uh they
• 1:13
  were in a tie for first place on the
• 1:16
  second to last game of the regular
• 1:17
  season in their league. Like had an
• 1:18
  opportunity to play for an NCAA
• 1:20
  tournament birth in their conference
• 1:21
  tournament, but you know, Auburn is
• 1:23
  metrically way better than them in a lot
• 1:25
  of areas. But Auburn just and you
• 1:28
  hesitate to like use the cliche of, oh,
• 1:30
  they didn't look like they wanted to be
• 1:31
  here. They just weren't playing very
• 1:32
  well. We're not hitting shots early
• 1:33
  against that South Alabama zone. And it
• 1:35
  for a while it was like, does this team
• 1:37
  have any answers? And when South Alabama
• 1:39
  hit 10 straight shots, it was like, is
• 1:40
  this going to happen? But credit to
• 1:42
  them, they flipped the switch and after
• 1:43
  that it was kind of never really a
• 1:45
  question.
• 1:45
  >> Well, and I think Steven even said it,
• 1:47
  it's like it not to be he was I mean I
• 1:49
  think there were like NIT
• 1:50
  representatives in the room which is
• 1:51
  made it kind of funny to me. He was like
• 1:53
  not to be re like they didn't want to be
• 1:55
  here because of course you want to go to
• 1:56
  the NCA tournament and this is obviously
• 1:58
  not plan A unless you're like truly in
• 2:01
  some crazy rebuild situation like those
• 2:02
  early early pearl years where being in
• 2:04
  the NIT would have been the greatest
• 2:05
  thing ever for Auburn. Obviously that's
• 2:07
  not where this team was coming from. And
• 2:09
  Steven said that he was like this is
• 2:10
  what we expected like we thought it
• 2:12
  would be kind of hard early. Could you
• 2:14
  just withstain? And I think that was so
• 2:16
  much of the first half was like despite
• 2:17
  everything, all the three-point shots
• 2:19
  you missed, the fact that South Alabama
• 2:21
  was going on runs, you're only down six
• 2:22
  at the half, it's like you almost would
• 2:25
  take that because at the end of the day,
• 2:28
  Auburn was able to get hot and advance.
• 2:31
  >> Well, and one thing Pearl pointed to as
• 2:33
  well is like, you know, he said you
• 2:35
  almost need a half a good half of
• 2:37
  basketball to just kind of wake up and
• 2:39
  realize that you're playing basketball.
• 2:40
  Like it just kind of like because it's
• 2:42
  hard to not when you're in that state.
• 2:44
  it's kind of it's hard to not take
• 2:46
  things seriously. Like you're just kind
• 2:47
  of playing. You're just you're just kind
• 2:48
  of doing what you've always done. And he
• 2:49
  said as well like you know sometimes it
• 2:51
  takes a win. And so I would not be
• 2:53
  surprised to see Auburn come out this
• 2:55
  weekend against Seattle who will be
• 2:56
  their second round opponent. Would not
• 2:58
  be surprised to see them come out a
• 2:59
  little bit with a little bit more
• 3:00
  >> and I think it'll help that there will
• 3:03
  almost certain well we don't know what
• 3:04
  time the game's going to be. We don't we
• 3:06
  have no idea. But like, you know, in
• 3:08
  addition to all things, like the
• 3:09
  building wasn't full because it was a
• 3:11
  Tuesday game at 9:00 p.m. with 2 days
• 3:13
  notice. And so it's like even if the
• 3:15
  game Sunday at 11:00, like you would
• 3:18
  think that it would just there would be
• 3:20
  a little bit more juice in the building
• 3:21
  as well. And like you said, the team
• 3:22
  would come out with a little more fun.
• 3:23
  >> Yeah. You'll have time to, like you
• 3:25
  said, couple days notice, people have
• 3:26
  time to plan and get here. Yeah. I mean,
• 3:27
  they they emphatically, and this was to
• 3:29
  be expected, but emphatically broke the
• 3:31
  sellout streak tonight here in this
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  building because 85 games, I think it'll
• 3:36
  it'll come to a close because the
• 3:38
  official
• 3:38
  >> Oh, they're just going to put regular
• 3:40
  season.
• 3:40
  >> I mean, they won't be wrong. And in
• 3:41
  fairness, what did you know, somebody on
• 3:43
  the somebody, you know, I tweeted a
• 3:45
  picture of it and somebody said it looks
• 3:46
  pretty good on TV and I was like, it was
• 3:48
  to be expected. Like I mean I think
• 3:50
  we're all sort of looking at this thing
• 3:52
  with the lens of let's all be honest
• 3:54
  with ourselves here and look at the
• 3:56
  reason why Auburn is here playing
• 3:57
  basketball is because they didn't
• 3:59
  accomplish what they wanted to do in the
• 4:00
  regular season. They didn't accomplish,
• 4:01
  you know, making it to the NCAA
• 4:03
  tournament, but Steven Pearl and this
• 4:05
  program see value in getting more young
• 4:08
  players on the court, you know, which
• 4:09
  we'll talk about here in a second. Uh
• 4:10
  and see value in getting some extra home
• 4:12
  games. And they did both those things
• 4:13
  today and are going to continue to try
• 4:14
  to do that moving forward. But arguably
• 4:17
  the MVP of this game I I would say is
• 4:19
  Kevin Overton with seven threes in the
• 4:20
  second half. That was a careerhigh. But
• 4:22
  the guy who lit the spark for this team
• 4:24
  in the second half was Kaden Magwood,
• 4:26
  >> which is who we all had on our big
• 4:27
  >> which if you told Auburn fans a couple
• 4:29
  months ago that hey Kaden Magwin's going
• 4:31
  to hit some big shots for this team in
• 4:32
  March, they probably would have
• 4:33
  whiplash. Um but he comes off the bench
• 4:35
  early on. It was the second rotation. It
• 4:37
  was excuse me the first rotation of the
• 4:38
  game. First first guys coming off the
• 4:40
  bench of the game. And they bring in
• 4:42
  they bring in five. the freshman point
• 4:43
  guard has not played in more than two
• 4:45
  months since the SEC home opener against
• 4:48
  Texas A&M. Very complicated, murky, lack
• 4:52
  of details situation for him because
• 4:54
  there was an offthe- court thing that
• 4:56
  Steven Pearl sort of mentioned briefly
• 4:58
  and then he was just after that was
• 4:59
  like, well, Blake Michalik's a much
• 5:01
  better defender. Then he just
• 5:02
  disappeared. He he he just he comes in.
• 5:04
  There could not have been a colder
• 5:06
  player off the bench that is available
• 5:08
  in this game. And yet he was the one who
• 5:10
  I think was really important early in
• 5:11
  the second half for for getting this
• 5:12
  team a win.
• 5:13
  >> Yeah. And he comes down and just knocked
• 5:14
  several threes down throughout the
• 5:16
  course of the game. And I just think
• 5:17
  that's the thing is and Pearl was very
• 5:20
  like really praised him in the post
• 5:21
  game. It was like they just preached so
• 5:23
  much especially to like those type of
• 5:25
  guys in those positions and the rotation
• 5:27
  of like is it what stay? Yeah. And it's
• 5:30
  like and he did that and obviously took
• 5:32
  advantage of it and we'll see more
• 5:34
  minutes down the stretch of this
• 5:35
  postseason.
• 5:36
  >> Yeah. I mean, one thing Steven Pearl
• 5:37
  said this week was this is an
• 5:38
  opportunity to be around guys, can't
• 5:41
  remember what he said, be around guys
• 5:42
  who have an opportunity to be in this
• 5:43
  program again. Now, is Kaden Magwood
• 5:45
  going to come back after not after being
• 5:46
  put on the bench all season? I don't
• 5:48
  know. But, you know, Steven Pearl said
• 5:50
  it after the game, like he's a guy who's
• 5:51
  who's done the right things, like you
• 5:53
  said, stayed right, stayed ready. U
• 5:54
  multiple fans have made comments on our
• 5:56
  on our board about like watching him on
• 5:58
  the bench during games and it's like
• 5:59
  he's very engaged and very involved. Um,
• 6:02
  and he's clearly done a good job on the
• 6:04
  scout team, Pearl said. And uh and Carl
• 6:06
  also said he's got straight A's in
• 6:07
  school right now this semester. So it's
• 6:08
  like what better time to give somebody
• 6:11
  an opportunity than in than in a game
• 6:12
  like this, but also Patrick, you had to
• 6:14
  adjust the rotation a little bit in this
• 6:17
  game. Maybe not the back court may may
• 6:19
  not have had to do much, but you had to
• 6:21
  move around the rotation somewhat
• 6:23
  because you're without Keshan Murphy.
• 6:24
  And that was the that was the news that
• 6:26
  came out pregame. We started to hear
• 6:27
  rumblings of that yesterday and into
• 6:29
  today. Auburn's starting center been
• 6:32
  their starting center throughout the
• 6:33
  season. We wondered if there were going
• 6:34
  to be any optouts. I asked Stephen about
• 6:36
  that on Monday and he was just like, uh,
• 6:38
  you know, I don't really know yet
• 6:39
  because I haven't met with the team
• 6:41
  since selection Sunday. And you're not
• 6:42
  going to be like, hey guys, so we're
• 6:43
  going to the NIT. Also, making sure you
• 6:44
  guys are all playing. Um, but then when
• 6:46
  they came out to practice, Keshan Murphy
• 6:47
  was not there.
• 6:48
  >> Seam Pearl said he didn't know. He
• 6:51
  didn't know why. There's really no rhyme
• 6:53
  or reason, but that's not necessarily a
• 6:56
  The fact that I even thought to ask, you
• 6:59
  know, is anyone going to opt out? That
• 7:00
  word opt out has just kind of crept into
• 7:03
  things over the years where it's like
• 7:05
  bowl games that you may not consider
• 7:06
  meaning that much and now obviously the
• 7:08
  NIT that as we talked about it's not
• 7:09
  necessarily where Auburn wants to be.
• 7:11
  >> Yeah. And I don't I mean of course I
• 7:13
  don't really know his exact situation
• 7:15
  and I think Stephen kind of alluded to
• 7:17
  that as well. He's like I don't really
• 7:18
  know why he didn't want to play in this
• 7:20
  but I I think it you know for a game
• 7:22
  that quote didn't matter. It really did
• 7:24
  put Auburn in some and we'll see further
• 7:26
  down the tournament like schematically
• 7:27
  where it puts Auburn in some weird spots
• 7:29
  down low. Sebastian Williams Adams was
• 7:31
  playing some of the five. And I think
• 7:33
  the big thing Pearl said is like, look,
• 7:34
  like
• 7:35
  >> there's really only so many guys we can
• 7:37
  put down there. There's really only so
• 7:39
  much we can do. It's just going to come
• 7:40
  down to we just have to be the scrappier
• 7:42
  physical guy down there because we're
• 7:44
  almost certainly not going to have the
• 7:46
  size.
• 7:46
  >> Yeah. And Keshan Hall played all 40
• 7:47
  minutes and and it's just like I don't
• 7:49
  think he can do if Auburn wins two or
• 7:51
  three games in this thing and makes it
• 7:52
  to Indianapolis where the semi-finals
• 7:53
  and finals are. Like you just don't know
• 7:54
  if you're gonna be able to do that.
• 7:56
  Yeah, like he said after the game, maybe
• 7:57
  I worded the question a little poorly to
• 7:59
  him of like, you know, what's your
• 8:00
  what's your approach after seeing what
• 8:01
  what it looked like tonight? And he was
• 8:02
  like it the approach is what it is. You
• 8:05
  we don't have our starting center now
• 8:07
  and the only true center on the entire
• 8:08
  roster hasn't been available since
• 8:09
  December. So, it's like you just you're
• 8:11
  kind of just working what you got with
• 8:12
  what you got right now. Uh we mentioned
• 8:14
  Kevin Overton, seven three-pointers
• 8:15
  there in the uh in the second half and
• 8:18
  now Auburn will move on to play Seattle.
• 8:20
  Uh we don't know when they're going to
• 8:21
  play them. It'll be either Saturday or
• 8:23
  Sunday. Uh you will find out when at the
• 8:26
  conclusion of Wednesday's games because
• 8:27
  that'll wrap late tomorrow night.
• 8:28
  >> Yeah, late tomorrow night. That'll wrap
• 8:29
  up the first round technically of the
• 8:31
  NIT. Um so it'll be either Saturday or
• 8:33
  Sunday. We know it'll be in this
• 8:34
  building. We know Seattle will have to
• 8:36
  come across the country. Uh we'll talk a
• 8:37
  little bit more about them this week on
• 8:39
  the website, but that's a really good
• 8:40
  defense. It's like a top 20 defense
• 8:42
  metrically in the country. Um on the
• 8:44
  flip side, it was kind of funny. St.
• 8:45
  Thomas was an incredible offense and
• 8:47
  they matched up and you kind of thought,
• 8:49
  let's take the maybe you want to take
• 8:51
  the the really good defense because like
• 8:52
  I don't know if I want a really good
• 8:53
  offense coming in here considering South
• 8:55
  Alabama looked like a good offense for a
• 8:56
  while until they got kind of completely
• 8:58
  shut down. But
• 8:59
  >> yeah, Patrick, it'll be interesting to
• 9:00
  see like like we talked about like the
• 9:02
  attitude and the mindset of this team
• 9:03
  was kind of just like, hey, let's let's
• 9:06
  shake ourselves awake a little bit. Like
• 9:07
  you're still kind of in the fog. You I
• 9:09
  kind of thought about it when they were
• 9:10
  trailing by 11 right before halftime.
• 9:12
  like this team led Tennessee by 10 like
• 9:15
  5 days ago in the second half. Like this
• 9:17
  is a good basketball team that was on
• 9:19
  the brink of making the NCAA tournament.
• 9:21
  And so, you know, it's a I I'll just say
• 9:24
  this. It's a unique way for the year for
• 9:27
  year one of the Steven Pearl era to end
• 9:29
  here in the NIT. However, it does end.
• 9:31
  It's a very unique way. And I think the
• 9:33
  most important thing was not losing
• 9:35
  today because if you lost today, you are
• 9:36
  the headline. Like
• 9:38
  >> and that's what we talked about is like
• 9:40
  I think the appro, you know, everyone's
• 9:41
  like, "Why do you do this? Why don't you
• 9:42
  do this? Pros, cons, whatever." And I
• 9:44
  think it's one of those things where I
• 9:45
  think we've all taken the mindset, fans,
• 9:47
  media, whatever, of like this is fun.
• 9:49
  It's exhibition basketball. It really
• 9:51
  outside of like a horrible injury can't
• 9:53
  hurt you. Parenthesis if you don't lose
• 9:56
  the first game to the instate team in
• 9:58
  your home building. And they avoided
• 9:59
  that today.
• 10:00
  >> Yeah. And as uh as our buddy Justin Lee
• 10:02
  said on Twitter, you know, schedule or
• 10:03
  not scheduling, but getting the instate
• 10:05
  team on one of the biggest days in uh
• 10:07
  for their city, St. Patrick's Day, who
• 10:09
  who saw the leprechaun, uh is was maybe
• 10:11
  a bad idea because they played with a
• 10:13
  lot of fire um and and hung around for
• 10:15
  quite a while, but Auburn obviously able
• 10:16
  to pull away and win on St. Patrick's
• 10:18
  Day inside of Neville Arena. So now we
• 10:20
  look forward to the next game this
• 10:21
  coming weekend. Head over to auburn
• 10:22
  undercover.com. We have a 50% off sale
• 10:25
  going on right now, which I hope you
• 10:26
  have taken advantage of because good
• 10:28
  grief, there was a lot of stuff to write
• 10:29
  about on I don't know how many content
• 10:31
  pieces we finished with on Tuesday, but
• 10:34
  Patrick's Patrick's video here will
• 10:35
  count toward Wednesday's total. Um, but
• 10:37
  recruiting, there are tons of guys on
• 10:38
  campus. Spring practice started. Uh, the
• 10:40
  Auburn baseball team was over
• 10:42
  >> at got a top five win and and not just a
• 10:45
  win, I mean, they looked tremendous
• 10:46
  beating, I believe, nine to three. They
• 10:47
  beat Georgia Tech and so very very busy
• 10:50
  March right now over at auburn
• 10:51
  undercover.com. We hope you will join us
• 10:53
  and I want to shout out this guy as well
• 10:54
  on uh on St. Patrick's Day. Uh Patrick
• 10:57
  continues to put in ton of work for us.
• 10:59
  I know that these are not, you know, we
• 11:00
  we feel the need to do these after every
• 11:02
  game and they're definitely a good part
• 11:03
  of our workflow
• 11:04
  >> and our content for for Auburn
• 11:06
  basketball, but um it's not like the
• 11:08
  most beneficial thing for our site
• 11:10
  necessarily, you know, the views that we
• 11:12
  get on YouTube or whatever, but it is
• 11:13
  something we feel like doing. And
• 11:15
  Patrick puts a ton of work into it and
• 11:17
  uh drove all the way back from a trip
• 11:18
  with his friends today. So, I just
• 11:19
  wanted to continue to highlight and got
• 11:20
  here for a 9:00 p.m. tip off. So, I just
• 11:22
  wanted to highlight the work that
• 11:23
  Patrick puts in for our website on
• 11:25
  Patrick's Day. It felt it felt only
• 11:27
  right.
• 11:27
  >> Favorite um let's see, favorite
• 11:29
  Patrick's ever for Auburn Athletics. Pat
• 11:32
  Sullivan for football.
• 11:34
  >> This is really good. I wish I
• 11:35
  >> Patrick Kim for That's the winner for me
• 11:38
  right there.
• 11:39
  >> Um yeah, your pastor. Um good answer. Uh
• 11:42
  I don't know if there's any Patrick's
• 11:43
  for baseball.
• 11:45
  >> There's probably
• 11:46
  >> I mean surely, right? glaring ones that
• 11:48
  we're just not even thinking of.
• 11:49
  >> Comment below.
• 11:50
  >> Yes, your favorite your favorite Patrick
• 11:52
  on uh on on retroactive retroactive
• 11:55
  Patrick day. Um it's very late. It's
• 11:56
  1:00 in the morning and I think we're
• 11:57
  getting a little delirious here after a
• 11:59
  long day. So for Patrick Bingham, I'm
• 12:00
  Nathan King. Thank you guys so much for
• 12:02
  joining us on the postgame pod. We'll
• 12:03
  talk to you'all soon.