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Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Mississippi State Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  Yeah, Mississippi State obviously played
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  probably their best offensive game of
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  the year against Miss the other night.
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  Um, you know, made double digit threes
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  for the third time in conference play
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  and they're 3 and 0 when they do that.
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  So, uh, you know, had a great, um,
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  overall game offensively and
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  defensively. Had a lot of step up from a
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  lot of the guys. Um, so they're, you
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  know, playing well right now and they're
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  playing with a lot of confidence and,
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  uh, you know, that's when this team's
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  good. So, um, you know, Hubard obviously
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  is again just another great guard, um,
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  that, you know, we're going against one
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  of the best probably the best scoring
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  point guard in our league. And, um, you
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  know, he's probably licking his chops
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  right now after, you know, some of the
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  performances some of the guards have had
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  against us as of late. So, our guys got
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  to really step up and um you know, be
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  excited about that matchup because uh
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  you know, he's he's an elite uh scoring
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  point guard and um so yeah um another
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  great test on the road. So, take any
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  questions.
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  >> Awesome.
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  Stephen, just obligatory checkup on
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  Keshan Hall whether you expect him to to
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  play on Wednesday.
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  >> Yeah, had a great practice yesterday and
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  he's out there getting shots right now.
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  So, hope for another great practice
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  today.
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  >> You talk about Hubard and just kind of
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  the challenge that that he faced. He's
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  got battoint game. Just what do you have
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  to do against a guy that may shoot it
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  every single time he touches the ball
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  and he they run so much stuff through
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  him?
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  >> Yeah. No, he's he's a handful. um you
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  know, with with how much we switch, you
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  know, it's going to be relying on
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  everybody to be able to uh you know, sit
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  down and guard, but you know, if you try
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  and take away his three ball, he drives
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  right around you and can get to the rim
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  and then get to the foul line. And if
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  you back up on him too much, you know,
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  he's got the ability to elevate over the
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  top and and knock down shots at a really
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  high level. So, he just he does a lot of
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  really good things and uh you know, he's
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  just really really difficult to contain
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  and uh you know, back-to-back 30-point
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  games. Um, you know, he's just
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  really, really good offensive player and
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  uh just presents a ton of challenges for
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  our defense.
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  >> Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the in your
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  open about Mississippi State kind of
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  having more confidence of late. Just you
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  mentioned the three-point shooting. What
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  are you guys going to have to do as a as
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  a three-point defense in this game,
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  especially after, you know, you just saw
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  AUF in in that last game have a good
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  performance? What are you guys going to
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  have to improve on?
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  >> Yeah, a lot of those were just bad
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  closeouts, honestly. Um, you know, he
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  hit three threes on our after we like on
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  the under OB's when we got matched up
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  and we closed out to him like we were in
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  zone still and instead of like because
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  we were supposed to go from zone to
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  manto man and uh we closed out short on
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  a you know great three-point shooter
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  that already made multiple threes. So I
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  I have no idea how that's possible. Um,
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  so it it was more our closeouts than it
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  was anything, you know, whereas
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  Hubard's, you know, um, you know, if you
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  don't, you know, if you don't close out
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  with a high hand on him, he's going to
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  knock shots down, and then if you aren't
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  pressed up into the ball, you know, he's
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  just going to be able to drive by you
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  and get you off of them and get to a
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  step back. So, our closeouts had a lot
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  to do with um, his shooting in, you
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  know, the Arkansas game. It was just
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  lazy, bad closeouts. So, we got to fix
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  that.
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  Jeff,
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  >> if you have a sense that this is going
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  to be mean extra for Murf, any wisdom or
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  guidance for him?
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  >> Well, we're going to his favorite
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  habachi restaurant tonight. So, I know
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  he's really excited about that. Um,
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  no. I mean, you know, um, one of the
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  things that was really important to Murf
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  before he came here was that he
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  graduated from Mississippi State and,
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  uh, he wanted to have that degree
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  because,
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  you know, he put a lot of time and
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  effort into that program and, um, you
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  know, it was important to get, you know,
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  his diploma from there because he has a
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  lot of love for that place and I credit
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  him for that. uh he could have come here
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  and taken a few extra courses to get his
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  degree at Auburn, but uh you know it
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  meant a lot to his mom and his grandma
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  that he got his degree from there. So I
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  know Murf's you know got a lot lot of
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  love for you know coach Jans and
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  everything that he and his staff did for
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  Murf. Um and uh you know I know he's
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  excited about you know the opportunity
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  to go back and you know compete against
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  some former teammates and uh obviously
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  you know it'll I'm sure there will be
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  some hostilities there. Um but you know
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  he's he's excited about it.
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  >> Hey coach, can you talk about how y'all
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  are keeping that momentum up after this
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  losing streak that's going on?
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  >> Yeah, I think it's it's a good question.
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  You got to kind of try and keep things
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  in perspective. Um you know, you look at
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  the last six teams that we've played
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  in their previous five games, they're
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  combined 30 and six, and two of those
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  losses came to Auburn. So
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  find me a tougher six game stretch than
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  what we just faced, you know. Um,
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  so that's one. And you know, you look at
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  three of those games, right? It's a one
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  or two possession game in the last two
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  minutes. Um, and then obviously we play
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  one of those games without our best
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  player. So, you got to try and keep
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  things in perspective as best you can.
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  Also, while realizing there's some
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  there's a lot of thing, not a lot of
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  things, there's things that we got to do
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  to be able to change some of those
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  outcomes. Um, you can't panic. Um, which
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  I know people are doing right now, which
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  is fine. They can panic all they want.
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  Um, we're going to stay consistent and
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  locked in on what we do because what we
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  do works and it's shown to work. like
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  had a quote the other day I saw that I
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  thought was really good and I thought
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  was really relevant to our guys
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  um as far as like just belief
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  it um belief stems from experience
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  reinforced by evidence.
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  So you know the evidence is beating
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  Texas, beating Florida, beating
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  Arkansas, beating NC State, beating St.
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  John's, you know. Um, so we've shown
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  what we're capable of doing. Um,
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  so that's where my belief comes from,
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  you know, knowing that our guys are
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  capable when they're at their best to,
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  you know, go win the games. Um, we
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  played six really good teams. We played
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  six NCAA tournament teams. We played six
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  teams in the top six in our league. We
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  went two and four in those games and we
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  had opportunities to win three of the
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  other ones. So, um, that's that's how
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  you try that's how you keep momentum
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  going or trying to keep positive
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  momentum going is just, you know, trying
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  to recognize that, you know, while we
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  want to win all those games, we went
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  through a tough stretch and, uh, you
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  know, we're doing a lot of the we're
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  doing a lot of the right things, but,
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  you know, none of that means it doesn't
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  mean anything if we don't learn from it
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  and and grow from it and try and be
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  better for it and, uh, you know, take
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  the things that we learned in that six
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  game stretch and try and apply them, you
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  you know, against a really good
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  Mississippi State team.
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  >> Stephen, you mentioned a week or so ago
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  just uh breaking down all the the threes
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  that opponents have taken and made and
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  trying to find a pattern or anything
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  that any anything popped up that really,
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  you know, jumps out at you on that?
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  >> Yeah, I think it's just um it it it's
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  different each game. Um the last game
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  was just bad closeouts. Like that was
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  really disappointing because we hadn't
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  really had that in the previous games.
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  It was, you know,
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  bad help. Um but I would rather give up
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  threes off bad help than give off threes
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  on just lazy closeouts. So um you know
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  each game's going to be different. Um
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  but you know we we got to do a better
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  job first off stopping the ball and we
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  didn't do a good job of that against
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  Arkansas. Um Auff was way too
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  comfortable and you know he hasn't made
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  more than four threes all year. made
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  seven against us and uh you know it's
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  it's a six-point game or a four-point
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  game with like six or seven minutes left
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  and um you know that makes a huge
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  difference in games like that. So first
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  off we got to do a better job in our
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  closeouts of not allowing just you know
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  stand still threes. Um if we do that you
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  know that at least gives us an
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  opportunity to defend the other ones.
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  We talked about after the game on
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  Saturday night, but t more on Tahad just
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  when he's playing offense like this and
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  you guys can, you know, go down the
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  stretch with with some momentum. I mean,
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  how big is that for y'all on offense
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  when he's performing like it's not just
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  shooting the ball better, but you know,
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  getting downhill and creating?
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  >> Yeah, it's been great. I mean, Tahad
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  has, you know, played a lot better
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  offensively the last three games. And
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  man, I like I thought about this the
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  other day. I haven't given him enough
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  credit this year for just a lot of the
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  things that he's done. um because he's
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  he's one of he's you know our best
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  player, our best returning player, our
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  only returning player and um you know we
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  expect so much out of him that you know
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  I haven't given him enough credit for
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  what he's had to go through this year
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  and uh he's been great on and off the
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  floor the last three or four games and
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  it's great to see you know his offense
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  and the confidence that he's having. I
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  want to say he has like 21 assists in
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  the last three games which is
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  phenomenal. He's been great. So, um, you
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  know, I texted his dad and his agent
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  yesterday and, you know, they got
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  nervous when I texted him. I was like, I
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  got I got to do a better job of giving
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  you guys more good stuff because he's
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  there's so much good with Tahad. He's
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  been a great teammate. Um, trying to be
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  a better leader on the floor. So, you
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  know, if he can keep this up, you know,
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  um it's going to bode well for us as,
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  you know, as we come down the stretch
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  here. Um, so he's starting to play well
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  at the right time and, um, you know, um,
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  if the rest of us can, you know,
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  continue to
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  keep growing and, uh, stay consistent
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  and stay bought in, uh, like they have
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  been, we'll we'll be in a good spot.
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  >> And then, you know, Elijah got off to a
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  rough start against Arkansas, but he hit
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  some shots there in the second half. Did
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  you kind of see him maybe, you know,
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  maybe a little spark there towards the
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  end of the game with with him
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  offensively? Yeah, I mean it was good to
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  see him knock down a few shots, but he
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  was just way too tentative in the first
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  30 minutes. Like he was just way too in
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  between on everything he did offensively
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  and defensively. And for him to be uh an
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  effective player, he's just got to just
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  be 100% committed to whatever he's doing
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  in that moment, whether it's driving the
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  ball to the basket or taking an open
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  shot or a close out or, you know, a
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  rotation on defense. like he can't do
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  anything halfway because when he does
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  everything when he does things at 100%
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  and full speed he's unbelievable and
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  he's incredibly effective and I thought
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  in the Arkansas game he was just a
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  little too stagnant a little too caught
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  in between decisions on what he was
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  trying to do and for him to be effective
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  he he can't do that so for him it's like
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  you just got to be assertive man you
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  just got to you know make your mind up
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  and go do it because when you do do
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  those things like you know there's not a
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  lot of people that can compete with you
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  in those situations so um you know, need
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  need him to, you know, play well down
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  the stretch and, you know, hopefully
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  couple those threes late will give him
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  some some confidence moving forward. I
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  thought he had a couple great drives
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  late in that game, too, in the second
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  half. Just, you know, I just thought it
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  just took 30 minutes for him to kind of
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  get comfortable and he's got to get
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  comfortable quicker in games in order to
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  be effective.
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  >> Anything else for coach?
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  >> All right. Thanks guys.