Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Oklahoma Preview

Transcript

Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Oklahoma Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:00
  Yeah, quick turnaround against a really
• 0:02
  talented and dangerous team. So, I got
• 0:04
  to get ready for practice. So, I'll take
• 0:05
  any questions you guys may have.
• 0:09
  >> It's another team that three-point
• 0:11
  shooting kind of is like the make or
• 0:12
  break for them this season. Challenge is
• 0:14
  kind of guarding them. They got a lot of
• 0:16
  experienced guards out there.
• 0:18
  >> Yeah, I mean, uh it's a team that shoots
• 0:20
  36% from three and um you know, they
• 0:23
  have a ton of games with double digit
• 0:24
  makes and uh you know, they got multiple
• 0:26
  guys that can really shoot it. Nigel
• 0:28
  Pack is a guy like Hubard that can
• 0:30
  really get hot really quick. You know,
• 0:31
  Xavier Brown's a guy that, you know, um
• 0:34
  can get hot when he's knocking shots
• 0:36
  down. Um you know, and they got a couple
• 0:38
  guys off the bench that can just
• 0:39
  absolutely, you know, fill it up. So, uh
• 0:43
  we got to do a great job understanding
• 0:45
  who we're guarding. Um you we have to
• 0:48
  have great closeouts in this game. um on
• 0:50
  penetration. You know, we can't get too
• 0:52
  loaded into the ball because they do a
• 0:54
  great job of finding the open shooters
• 0:56
  and we got to do a great job of uh you
• 0:58
  know, contesting those shots.
• 1:00
  >> Ste, I know you're pretty stoked about
• 1:01
  the way Elijah responded the other day
• 1:03
  more aggressive. Do you think this could
• 1:04
  be kind of a launching point for him
• 1:06
  where he's like,
• 1:06
  >> I told you to be more aggressive. You
• 1:08
  were awesome. Just keep going that way.
• 1:10
  >> Yeah, I I hope so because, you know,
• 1:12
  when he plays that assertive and that
• 1:14
  aggressive, he's just a totally
• 1:15
  different player on both ends of the
• 1:16
  floor. So, you know, part of that is I
• 1:18
  got to put him in positions and
• 1:20
  situations to be aggressive, and I
• 1:21
  thought we did a much better job of that
• 1:23
  in the game, but I also thought he was
• 1:24
  just, you know, just way more assertive
• 1:26
  on his own. And, uh, you know, in order
• 1:28
  for him to be the best version of
• 1:30
  himself, that that's what he's got to
• 1:31
  do. So, you know, I was walking into
• 1:33
  Maris just said, you know, asked me the
• 1:35
  question like a lot of the same as far
• 1:36
  as your messaging. I'm like, yeah, like
• 1:38
  please just like, you know, tell Elijah
• 1:40
  just be aggressive. Be like, and he he
• 1:41
  he's a smart player. He knows when to be
• 1:44
  aggressive and when not to be
• 1:45
  aggressive. So, you know, need him to
• 1:47
  continue to do that.
• 1:50
  >> You mentioned after the game, obviously
• 1:51
  all got the win, but still, you know,
• 1:53
  maybe maybe some issues closing out the
• 1:54
  game, you know, kind of losing a lead
• 1:56
  there was similar at Mississippi State.
• 1:57
  When you look back at that, what are the
• 1:59
  factors that you maybe attribute that
• 2:00
  to? Is it is it turnovers? You think
• 2:02
  y'all are playing a little tight at the
• 2:03
  end of games? Just kind of what have you
• 2:04
  seen in that regard?
• 2:06
  >> No, it wasn't turnovers. It's just
• 2:07
  defensive mistakes. um you know, not
• 2:12
  following certain aspects of the
• 2:14
  scouting report. You know, they uh run a
• 2:18
  a five out action where there's three
• 2:20
  guys on the same side and we call that
• 2:21
  like a triple wing and uh Sebastian
• 2:24
  missed his coverage. Um which then led
• 2:26
  Keshan Hall missing his coverage which
• 2:28
  led to OA hitting a three in the corner.
• 2:31
  Um, you know, they run they run a middle
• 2:33
  ball screen where they set a pin down on
• 2:35
  the guard in the corner and he comes up
• 2:37
  and runs a ghost screen. Like the three
• 2:39
  guys that were on this side of the floor
• 2:40
  like we're switching for some reason and
• 2:42
  we weren't able to get the coverage to
• 2:44
  Keshan Hall in time and we were trying
• 2:45
  to send him right in that situation.
• 2:47
  He's he drives it left downhill right
• 2:49
  around us. Sebastian is guarding Ooway
• 2:52
  and telling I'm screaming at him to back
• 2:54
  up, back up and he's picking him up at
• 2:56
  half court and then you know he runs him
• 2:58
  off at his heels. Pulls up for three and
• 3:01
  Sebastian I don't know if he touched him
• 3:02
  but it looked like he touched him. So
• 3:04
  you put the ref in a really difficult
• 3:06
  spot by doing that. Same thing in the
• 3:08
  first half with Tahad when he fouled
• 3:09
  when he he didn't foul the shooter but
• 3:11
  he slapped down like that. Any referee's
• 3:16
  going to call that. So, you know, we we
• 3:17
  just it was a lot of defensive lapses in
• 3:19
  both games. Same thing with the
• 3:21
  Mississippi State game. We gapped a pin
• 3:22
  in. We gave really bad help off of
• 3:24
  penetration. Um, and we just played, you
• 3:27
  know, we played statue defense twice on
• 3:29
  layups. So, it's just it's been
• 3:31
  defensive lapses late. Obviously, there
• 3:33
  was a couple turnovers there, but it's
• 3:35
  more on our defense late, you know,
• 3:36
  because we did a great job, you know, in
• 3:38
  the first or I guess in the 12 minutes
• 3:41
  before that of just like getting
• 3:42
  defensive stop after defensive stop and
• 3:44
  really just being intentional with our
• 3:46
  defense and in the last two games, in
• 3:48
  the last four minutes, we've really
• 3:50
  struggled in those areas. The only
• 3:51
  positive is that we were able to somehow
• 3:53
  find a way to win that game so we can
• 3:55
  learn from it. Um, but you know,
• 3:58
  obviously we lost the Mississippi State
• 3:59
  game because we had some defensive
• 4:00
  breakdowns late, so we can't do that
• 4:02
  again moving forward.
• 4:04
  >> You know, Ke didn't have his best on
• 4:05
  offense the other night, but you
• 4:07
  mentioned the other night with eight
• 4:08
  defensive boards. He also had seven,
• 4:09
  seven assists. Just I mean, what's that
• 4:11
  kind of say about him and the team that
• 4:13
  you don't y'all can win a game like that
• 4:15
  without him going off like he usually
• 4:17
  does score? Yeah, we missed 15 layups as
• 4:19
  a team and you know um a lot of those
• 4:23
  you know Kei probably had five or six of
• 4:25
  them and it was all playing off of two
• 4:27
  feet which is everything we asked Ke to
• 4:29
  do. So that was kind of an anomaly
• 4:31
  honestly. Um you know we missed three in
• 4:34
  transition that were just like no one
• 4:36
  was guarding us. So you know to miss 15
• 4:39
  layups um and key you know to to
• 4:42
  struggle like that offensively. But
• 4:44
  here's the deal like you know he still
• 4:46
  had seven assists. he still had eight
• 4:48
  huge rebounds. Like that's, you know,
• 4:50
  that's huge. Like how can you affect the
• 4:52
  game when you're not scoring and that's
• 4:54
  been, you know, the biggest thing that,
• 4:55
  you know, we've been talking to all our
• 4:57
  guys about. But Key's done a great job
• 4:59
  in games where he hasn't scored the ball
• 5:00
  of at least facilitating it and and
• 5:02
  cutting down his turnovers. So, uh, he
• 5:04
  did a great job of not letting, you
• 5:06
  know, his offense affect other parts of
• 5:07
  his game and he was able to be
• 5:08
  productive in spite of that.
• 5:13
  with Oklahoma is how easy is it to just
• 5:15
  kind of point how dangerous they are
• 5:17
  with the fact they beat Mandy and they
• 5:18
  beat Georgia just last week. I know I
• 5:20
  know they've lost the last two, but you
• 5:21
  know they've you know it's like you said
• 5:24
  earlier is a pretty easy team to kind of
• 5:25
  say like pay attention to even though
• 5:27
  they're three and 11 or anything like
• 5:28
  that.
• 5:29
  >> Yeah, I mean you look at a lot of their
• 5:31
  games this year you know they had a
• 5:32
  double- digit lead on Texas in the first
• 5:33
  half. They had a double digit lead on
• 5:35
  Arkansas in the first half. You know
• 5:36
  they were beating Vanderbilt by 20. you
• 5:38
  know, they, you know, they had um like
• 5:41
  1.5 points per possession against
• 5:43
  Georgia. Like this is this is an
• 5:45
  incredibly dangerous team. Um and
• 5:48
  they've had double digit leads against a
• 5:49
  lot of teams in our league. And you even
• 5:52
  have had leads late in games. And um so
• 5:55
  yeah, I mean they are more than capable
• 5:58
  offensively. They're one of the top
• 5:59
  offenses in our league and in the
• 6:01
  country. And uh they play hard as heck
• 6:03
  defensively. like they fly around and
• 6:05
  they mix up their coverages, but you
• 6:07
  know, they just they're still playing
• 6:08
  with a ton of effort and a ton of energy
• 6:10
  and uh you know, it's a team that plays
• 6:12
  well at home and um you know, incredibly
• 6:15
  dangerous opponent and uh you know, they
• 6:17
  have our full attention for sure.
• 6:20
  >> Any other questions?
• 6:22
  >> All right, thanks coach. Pay attention.