Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Postgame Pod: Auburn falls to No. 23 Georgia 104-100

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Postgame Pod: Auburn falls to No. 23 Georgia 104-100 · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  [music]
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  Welcome on in everybody here to the
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  postgame [music] pod at Auburn
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  Undercover. Nathan King joined by
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  Patrick Bingham here in the Georgia
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  press room. Uh you'll notice the
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  obviously the Bulldog logo behind us.
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  Had to get kind of creative. Not out on
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  the court today because they are uh
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  cleaning off with leaf blowers. So that
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  tends to be a little bit loud. I
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  remember they did that last time here.
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  Uh Patrick, an absolutely thrilling way
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  for Auburn to open SEC play. The only
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  thing this game lacked, if you're
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  Auburn, was a win. This one had
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  absolutely everything. Um and had a
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  miraculous shot and it did not Yeah, it
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  didn't have neither team had defense. Uh
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  it was a miraculous shot by Kevin
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  Overton to send it to overtime. Uh
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  Georgia led by four in it just was
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  almost like a it was almost like a you
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  just heave it up there at the end if
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  you're if you're Keshan Hall. And they
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  did the biggest no no, which is you
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  foul. there on a three-point play and uh
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  Kev Keshan Hall obviously misses the
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  free throw. Kevin Overton with.7 less
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  than a second able to gather himself and
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  shoot a baseline jumper um to send
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  Auburn to overtime but not able to
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  prevail in the overtime period. They
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  were up by three at one point. Uh Kevin
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  Overton had two big shots early on in
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  the overtime period, but ultimately
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  defense is is what causes this loss for
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  Auburn. Jeremiah Wilkinson for for
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  Georgia was phenomenal with 31 points.
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  Uh, Smurf Miller adds 24 as well. But as
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  Steven Pearl said in his postgame,
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  Patrick, I mean, the theme of this one
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  was one-on-one defense. We knew this was
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  going to be a guard driven. It's a guard
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  attack for Georgia. And simply put, I
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  mean, Auburn just couldn't stay in front
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  of their man on the perimeter and and
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  dribbling past those guys just sort of
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  broke everything down for Auburn's
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  defense.
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  >> Yeah. And as much as like basketball's a
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  game of runs and obviously this was a
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  game of runs and momentum, it almost
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  felt like it was a game of like
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  individual player runs. I mean, Kevin
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  obviously like made that shot, but then
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  he was obviously still hot. Made the
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  first few shots of overtime. Blue Kane
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  had a big fourth or second half. So, it
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  was a bunch of different players. But I
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  think the thing that I continue to think
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  about is um
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  like Georgia beat you with the threes
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  and that they were ranked in the 200s
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  coming nationally, coming into the game.
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  And it's like if you had told me they
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  were going to win that stat, I was going
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  to struggle to think Auburn had won.
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  That being said, Auburn made I mean I
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  mean you score 100 points, everyone
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  makes shots, but it's the defense at the
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  end of the day that you just continually
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  and for so much of that second half it
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  was like Auburn was down by one and they
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  kept missing a shot. Georgia would go
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  score and then Auburn would answer but
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  they were down by one again and it was
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  just like you couldn't get over that
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  hump. They obviously like in a crazy way
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  did
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  >> but again it was just that defense.
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  >> Yeah, Stephen said it after the game. I
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  mean you you put yourself in position to
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  win this game so many times. I meant to
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  look it up afterwards what Auburn shot
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  in this game when they were trailing by
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  exactly one. It might have been like 0
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  of 13 because there was one possession
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  where they go down, they had four shots
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  all at the rim uh with offensive
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  rebounds, couldn't get it, missed a
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  couple three-pointers, had an 0 for2
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  trip at the foul line. All of those were
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  with an opportunity to take the lead. Um
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  it was Yeah, they had an offensive lull
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  there in the second half. I think that
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  that was the stretch that really killed
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  them. They missed 10 straight shots.
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  Yes. Um in the second half, that's what
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  really came back
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  >> and yet they still had a chance to win.
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  >> And yet at the end of the game that they
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  still have an opportunity to go to
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  overtime. It is worth noting they were
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  short-handed in overtime, so they didn't
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  have Todd Pedford. He fouled out at the
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  end of regulation. Scores 25 points.
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  We'll touch on him a little bit later.
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  And uh Philip Yovic quickly fouled out
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  in overtime. Great game for him. 10
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  rebounds. Um he had a double double,
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  >> five offensive rebounds, mixed in there.
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  Auburn outrebounded Georgia, which
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  entered this game top 10 nally in in in
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  total rebounding rate. Auburn
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  outrebounded Georgia by 15 in this one.
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  And Stephen Pearl went back to that in
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  his postgame as another way to say this
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  isn't about size. He he sort of I wish I
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  had the quote from him on radio because
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  he was a little bit more snarky with it.
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  But it's like he he said, you know, he's
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  tired of talking about the lack of size
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  this team has because that was not the
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  issue for them in this game as evidenced
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  by their rebounding. It was the fact
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  that they were beaten off the dribble so
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  often. And it was different guys for
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  Georgia at different moments. Blue Kane
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  you mentioned at the end of of
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  regulation. Uh Smurf Miller for me was
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  was the MVP of the game for Georgia
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  until Wilkinson at the very end came
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  down with it. And so yeah, I mean
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  Auburn's guards were were clearly
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  outplayed. Um and this one in that
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  perimeter defense remains a really big
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  issue.
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  >> Yeah. And I think that was the thing is
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  that it was
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  >> it it wasn't down low. It wasn't because
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  Keshan Murphy
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  >> I guess was injured. He wasn't 100%
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  seemed like it. I mean, that's kind of
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  he didn't say anything official after
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  the game, but I mean, even though Phil
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  was having a I mean, a great game, and
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  that's probably why he didn't get beat
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  so bad down low. It It was the guard
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  play. And yes, Auburn was able to answer
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  it. But like, even for me, like
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  offensively, it's the weird like you
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  score 100 points, the offense wasn't the
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  problem. Steven said the offense was
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  fine, but in a game you lost by a
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  couple, you missed over
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  >> 22 three-pointers. Yeah.
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  >> Yeah. You miss a bunch of
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  three-pointers, you miss a bunch of foul
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  shots. And so it's just kind of like
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  yes, like you still were able to score a
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  lot of the points. And a lot of the
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  stats are skewed because you played five
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  extra minutes if you just look at it
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  like that, but it like you just couldn't
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  make the defensive play. You just
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  couldn't make that last shot. And then
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  they did, but it just ultimately didn't
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  play out.
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  >> I mean, it felt like like you're saying
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  on on both ends of the floor, it just
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  felt like Georgia I was talking to
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  Jordan Hill who works for our our
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  Georgia 247 site. Um it felt like
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  Georgia won this game. Like they went
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  out and took it. they went out and made
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  the winning plays. You just
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  >> here and there four or five different
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  possessions where you just you sort of
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  winced at what Auburn did, whether that
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  was on the defensive end when they let
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  Santos go all the way back on the on the
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  that was just obviously a
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  miscommunication whe whether Sebastian
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  Williams Adams just didn't play that
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  properly. Um the possession at the end
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  of goodness I'm bl I believe this the
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  end of overtime not regulation when
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  Keshan Hall goes down
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  >> and just kind of gets trapped in the
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  corner and and has to make a pass down
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  low. he's double teamed and like that
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  just like steam pearl said post game
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  nobody moved and it just was a pass that
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  had no that had no chance. Um Todd
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  Pedford was really good in this one for
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  for Auburn 25 points although he faded
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  down the stretch. He missed all six of
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  his three-pointers in the second half
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  again like you're saying just one or two
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  of those goes a different way. It could
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  be a different result. Um but the big
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  >> story with Pedford in this game is he
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  comes off the bench for the first time
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  >> for Auburn this season. It was very
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  clear early on it wasn't injury related.
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  Like it it was obvious Magwood picked up
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  two quick fouls and Pedford was in the
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  game and looked like himself right away.
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  We knew it was probably some sort of
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  team decision and and Steven Pearl says
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  after the game um it was a quote failure
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  to meet team standards and and Steven
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  kind of used that question about Todd
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  and and that explanation as an
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  opportunity
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  >> it seemed like to me sort of challenged
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  the team. He said when they came back
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  from Purdue it was a little bit more
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  >> hey guys we got to tighten up. He
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  mentioned like you know get to meetings
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  on time things like that and he said
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  about Tahad look you know this is the
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  team leader um his exact quote was he's
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  got to stop putting me in positions to
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  make difficult decisions. So, it's I
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  think it's a it's a minor thing right
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  now that people probably shouldn't latch
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  on to too too much, but it does sort of
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  underscore that Steven Pearl's not going
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  to back down in terms of his challenge
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  of this team in a lot of different ways.
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  He's challenging them on defense. He's
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  obviously challenging them off the court
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  to to to be a little bit tighter. And
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  so, room to improve for this Auburn team
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  for sure. I think you saw a lot of
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  positives in this game. you saw a lot of
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  things where you you were just one or
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  two possessions away from getting this
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  one, but yet at the same time, just like
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  we said after non-conference play,
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  >> it feels like there's just still so much
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  unknown and still so much room to grow
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  for this team.
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  >> Well, and that's the thing is like I
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  think it can go both ways of like, oh,
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  you were so close. You make literally
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  one more foul shot, you win the game. I
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  mean, like there's so many different
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  like you were so close, but at the same
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  time it's like
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  >> glaring issues. Yeah, there was glaring
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  issues and Georgia was oh, just a couple
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  shots away from it really not being
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  close either because you missed those
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  like 10 straight shots or whatever. And
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  so it's kind of like how can you
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  I guess meet in the middle of that. But
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  um that I mean that's just where we go
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  from here is now you're on to Texas A&M
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  and can you take advantage? I think the
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  thing that hurts the most from this
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  because we were talking about it I guess
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  after the Queens game was like this and
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  obviously it turned into that kind of
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  game but like this is one you really
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  could have stole um and you're obviously
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  unable to Georgia has a really good team
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  their offense is as advertised but at
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  the same time like there's so many
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  things where you're looking back like if
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  we could have just done this one thing
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  we come out with the win and we get to
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  fix all the issues off of that.
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  >> Yeah. That same conversation we had you
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  mentioned after Queens about SEC play in
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  in particular this beginning stretch of
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  SEC play. it still applies. We knew this
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  game was going to be really difficult.
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  Like we knew this was going to be one of
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  the toughest games for them early on.
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  Probably I mean this is in terms of
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  venue and team this might be the
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  toughest. Obviously Arkansas is analy
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  analytically and and and you know the
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  way they look they're probably a better
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  team than Georgia but you get them at
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  home and so obviously not the end of the
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  world for Auburn to drop this one. You
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  know they got 17 SEC games left. Of
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  course it's not the end of the world but
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  as you mentioned it will be nice for
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  them to have an opportunity to get right
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  at home. And I think those are a couple
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  games next week that look Arkansas's,
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  you know, Texas&M has had their
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  struggles. Arkansas is is a is a much
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  better team
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  >> than the Aggies, but you would love to
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  get some win back in your sales there
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  because right now you're feeling like
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  >> your last few opportunities to play away
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  from home, particularly on defense.
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  You've just had a lot of struggles. And
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  so, um, that's obviously first and
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  foremost. If if Steven Pearl didn't make
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  it clear enough, um, which if you're
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  watching this on the YouTube channel,
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  you can go watch his press conference as
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  well, that that is that remains their
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  focus. He said before the year, early on
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  in the year, they needed to be what, top
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  50, top 60 analytically and defense,
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  something like that. And and they're
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  they were number 78 before this game,
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  and they're probably going going further
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  backwards. And so that remains the uh
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  the struggle right now for Auburn
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  basketball. Uh 104 to 100. They dropped
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  this game in overtime in Athens here in
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  Stigman Coliseum. For Patrick Bingham, I
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  am Nathan King. Thank you guys so much
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  for joining us on the Auburn Undercover
• 9:41
  YouTube channel. Be sure to head over to
• 9:43
  auburnover.com. Got tons of transfer
• 9:45
  portal coverage going on. Uh lots of
• 9:47
  transfer graphics from Patrick. you will
• 9:49
  see in in the coming days. Um, including
• 9:52
  some that are that are making their way
• 9:53
  to the to the roster. So, good job for
• 9:55
  you. Eat your heart out, Auburn, for the
• 9:57
  uh for the transfer returning graphics
• 9:59
  cuz uh [music] the roster returning
• 10:00
  graphics. Patrick's got some of those as
• 10:02
  well. So, appreciate you guys for
• 10:03
  joining us. Be sure to head over to
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  auburn undercover.com. We will talk to
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  you guys later. [music]