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Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Vanderbilt Loss · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  you know, credit to Vanderbilt. Um, they
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  did a great job. Um, came out and played
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  really well early. Um, you know, I
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  thought we had a great environment
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  tonight again and, you know, um, just
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  want to continue to thank our fans for
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  hanging in there with this team as we're
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  trying to work through some things and,
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  uh, you know, they did their part and we
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  didn't do ours. So, for that, you know,
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  I apologize. I got to do a better job as
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  their coach, um, in these situations.
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  But I thought Vanderbilt came out and
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  you know that's the second game in a row
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  where we had a defensive breakdown on
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  the first possession and they they make
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  a three and you know that just that does
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  wonders for your confidence when you're
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  able to come out and hit your first shot
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  like that and um you know
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  so that that big start. You know they
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  they had some real step up from their
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  bigs. You know Washington and MLKton
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  played great. Um, you know, Molakton
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  made some big ones early in the first
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  half to kind of, you know, keep us at
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  right around 8 to 10. And Washington,
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  you know, he's made six threes on the
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  year and, you know, makes two. Um, so,
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  you know, they had some real step up
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  and, uh, you know, Tanner does a great
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  job. Um, got to the foul line 13 times,
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  had six assists, one turnover. So, we
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  didn't do a good enough job disrupting
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  them defensively.
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  Um, and that's on me. You know, I got to
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  switch some things up defensively in
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  some of these games. and we did that in
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  the last 10 minutes and it was
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  effective, but we got to do that
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  earlier. Um, and offensively I just
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  thought, you know, in the first half,
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  um, we were four for 18 from two and one
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  of our biggest emphasis was really
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  attacking the paint and I thought we did
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  that a lot tonight. And, um,
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  yeah, I'm not, you know,
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  I thought we should have gotten to the
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  foul line more in the first half, uh,
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  just based on how aggressive we were
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  attacking downhill. Um,
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  I think, you know, the lack of us
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  getting to the foul line led to some
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  frustration and, uh, it kind of carried
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  over. So, we we got to do a better job
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  of controlling our emotions. Um, not
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  interacting with the officials as much
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  because they have a tough job. And, uh,
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  you know, I thought that last, you know,
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  8 minutes, the group we had out there
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  did a great job of really fighting back
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  and putting us in a position to, you
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  know, cut it to four and we get a stop
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  and we have a shot to cut it to two. And
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  um yeah, they uh you know, they did a
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  great job executing down the stretch and
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  uh you know, another disappointing
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  result, but you know, we um continue to
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  have great opportunities in front of us.
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  We just got to find a way to uh you
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  know, we got to improve. We got to get
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  better. So, take any questions.
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  >> Coach, Saturday, you said you needed
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  your best players to play better defense
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  to win. How did you assess your best
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  players and the defense that they played
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  tonight?
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  Yeah, I mean we we did a good job on
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  Nickel, you know, three for 12, only 10
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  points. Um, you know, Tanner is six for
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  16, but he gets to the foul line 13
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  times. So, we really talked about
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  limiting those two. And, you know, I
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  thought for the most part, you know, he
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  got to the foul line probably six times
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  late. So, I thought we did a decent job
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  on those two. They just had some real
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  step up from some of their um, you know,
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  uh, other guys. And, uh, you know, good
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  teams will do that. And um you know
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  Washington having 22 that you know
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  wasn't something that was on my bingo
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  card but you know credit to him played
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  great. Um
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  you know I think um I'll have to watch
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  the film Mike and just kind of see but I
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  thought you know the effort was there. I
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  thought the execution wasn't. Um but
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  part of that's on me too. I got to do
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  some things defensively to get us a
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  little more active flying around and
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  trying to be a little more aggressive
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  like we were at the end. So we got to do
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  some more of that moving forward. So me
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  that's on me as their coach. I gota do a
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  better job of putting them in positions
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  to make plays.
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  >> Coach, 26 minutes for Keshan Hall was
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  not on the floor down the stretch.
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  Seemed like it was after the technical
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  foul that decision came to to not put it
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  back in. Can you kind of walk us through
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  that a little bit?
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  >> Yeah, I just went with the guys that I
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  thought put us in the best position to
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  get back into the game. And you know, we
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  end up cutting it to four and that group
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  did a really good job of just grinding
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  and fighting and calling back in. And
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  you know, uh, Vanderbilt did a really
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  good job every time Kei had the ball of
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  just like plugging the paint and, uh,
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  made it really difficult for him and our
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  offense wasn't really in sync when he
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  was on the floor. So, wanted to give us
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  a different look and, uh, you know, went
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  with those guys. And I thought, you
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  know, we had a lot of good good, you
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  know, good minutes from Elijah. I
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  thought Elijah played well. Obviously,
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  didn't shoot it great. Um, but, you
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  know, got eight big rebounds and, you
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  know, was really aggressive and, um, you
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  know, it's it was just a it was a
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  coach's decision. I just wanted to go
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  with a group that I thought was going to
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  help us get back into the game.
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  >> Todd in the second half really felt like
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  he was speeding the game up and gave you
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  all a chance to come back. Is that
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  something you know you'd like to see
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  kind of more out of him moving forward?
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  >> Yeah, I mean he's, you know, had two
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  pretty good offensive games. You know,
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  another game where, you know, if he's
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  one for six from three, like I thought
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  two or three of them were down. Um, so,
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  you know, four assists, one turnover.
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  He's had 11 assists and three turnovers
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  in the last two games. So, you know,
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  that's good. Um, you know, Tahad, you
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  know, took some some coaching this week
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  about, you know, his offball positioning
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  and he did such a great job in practice
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  this week of just like trying to coach
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  guys through things and, um, you know,
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  just want to give him some credit on
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  that because, um, I've been I've been
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  pretty harsh on Tahad and in some of
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  these pressers because he's one of my
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  best players and I expect a lot out of
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  him. But, you know, I thought he really
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  battled tonight. I thought he really,
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  you know, put in a great effort and, uh,
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  you know, that's what something we're
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  going to need from him moving forward.
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  So, I'm glad he's playing with a little
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  more confidence. He did a he did a he
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  did a he did our best job getting
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  downhill and finishing at the rim. You
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  know I think he was six for 12 on twos.
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  Got to the foul line. So um you know did
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  a good job getting us back into it and I
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  thought he had some ones that were you
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  know halfway in down the stretch that
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  could have changed the game.
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  >> You mentioned the effort being there on
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  defense but the execution not
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  necessarily being there. I guess how did
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  you see the guys respond leading up to
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  this game after Alabama and I guess
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  where do you guys go from here? You know
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  now it's kind of issue is shifting a
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  little bit.
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  >> What' you say at the end? I guess where
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  do you guys go from here? You know, you
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  say it's not as much an effort issue,
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  but more execution.
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  >> Yeah, we just got to, you know, we got
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  to stay consistent. Like I know, you
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  know, people are going to be panicking
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  right now, but you know, if you look
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  going into this game, you know, based on
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  our adjusted efficiency, we we've been
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  the second best team in our conference
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  going into this game, you know. So,
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  while the results haven't been there,
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  like this team has continued to get
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  better. So, we got to just trust what
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  we're doing, but we also got to tweak
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  some of the things that we're doing
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  defensively to try and, you know, be a
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  little more aggressive in some of the
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  things that we're doing to give us an
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  opportunity to make plays and not let
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  teams be more be comfortable in what
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  they're doing. Um, you know, because,
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  you know, we we've shown that we've been
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  able to win some games with our defense
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  this year when our offense wasn't going
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  and we didn't do that tonight. You know,
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  we shot 32% in the first half and they
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  shot 57. Um, so they did a really good
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  job executing in the first half and, you
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  know, our defense just wasn't as good as
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  as what it was in the last 10 minutes.
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  So, uh, I got to do a better job, um,
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  getting these guys prepared and I got to
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  do a better job of making adjustments in
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  game to, uh, give us a better chance to
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  to win these ones.
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  >> Stephen, the technical after Vanderbilt
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  hit that three, just I guess what was
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  the explanation from the officials on
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  that
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  >> mine or Kos?
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  >> Just them talking to you just what I
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  don't know like what what did they tell
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  you about I guess blowing the whistle on
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  that? on my technical or on Okay, sorry.
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  >> I said that was a big call because on
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  the uh pressure when they called the
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  foul on Tanner, he had already passed
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  the ball. So, I thought there was no
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  advantage. There was no disadvantage to
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  the contact that we had in the trap. So,
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  I thought since he got off of it, I
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  didn't think the call needed to be
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  needed to happen. Usually, they call
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  those things when there's an advantage
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  for the defense, if that makes sense.
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  Right. So, I thought since he got got
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  rid of it, I didn't think you needed to
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  call that in that moment. So, as as he's
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  running down, I said that was a big call
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  and he teed me up and he said I cussed
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  at him and uh you know, I was miked up
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  tonight, so maybe I got to check the
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  feed. But I asked my bench like, "Did I
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  cuss at him?" And they they said no. So,
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  um really disappointed. Like, you know,
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  I I've tried to pride myself in not
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  really getting after the officials. I
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  just slapped the video board um to try
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  and, you know, take my frustration on
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  something. Um but yeah, I mean, I didn't
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  curse at him. Yeah, I just said that was
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  a big call, man. Like that was that was,
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  you know, it was went for a six-point
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  game and then I think they got a stop
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  and came down and scored again. So, it
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  was just like felt like a big shift in
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  momentum on a call that I didn't think
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  needed to happen. But, you know, those
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  guys have a really difficult job. Um,
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  there's a lot of contact in that game
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  and uh, you know, disappointed though,
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  you know, um, because I got a lot of
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  respect for those guys and I would
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  never, you know, berate them or curse at
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  them like that. Um, so yeah, not didn't
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  didn't think I earned that one.
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  >> We'll take a few more. Caleb,
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  >> Stephen, a couple times, you know, the
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  last three or four games, you guys have
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  fallen in the hole pretty early on. Just
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  how difficult does it make it to fight
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  back kind of in the second half. How
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  does that change the game?
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  >> Yeah, I mean, Alabama game, we were up
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  10, so that wasn't really an issue. At
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  Tennessee, we got down 14. Um, Texas, we
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  got down
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  >> 14, right? So, and then tonight, you
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  know, we get down 15 in the second half.
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  So, yeah, we got to do a better job of
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  we might switch up some things. I don't
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  know if if that if that's the answer.
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  It'd be helpful if we could win a tip.
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  Um, you know, I feel like we've lose one
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  every game and they get the first
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  possession. So, um, you know, we just we
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  got to do a better job starting off
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  defensively and getting stops because,
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  you know, in that four game stretch
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  where we won four games, like one of the
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  commonalities was we got to stop on our
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  first possession in all four of those
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  games. So, we got to do a better job. um
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  starting out games because you know it's
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  in this league like there's a lot of
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  good teams and if you get in a double
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  digit hole you know it's really hard to
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  come back so we got to do a better job
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  of uh getting off to better starts and
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  you know two of our last three of our
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  last four we've got off to bad starts
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  >> Nathan and then finish
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  >> Stephen how important is it going to be
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  to protect home court from here on out
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  obviously these are a couple good teams
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  analytically that you just lost to but
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  the opportunities and the resume sort of
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  down the stretch last few weeks this
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  season how important is it going to be
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  to to maybe get some of those games back
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  on your home
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  Yeah, I can't really like think about
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  those games. I got I gota think about
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  Arkansas because uh they're really good.
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  Um so for us it's like you know we can't
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  get too focused on you know games three
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  or four down the road like you got to
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  get we got to get ready for Arkansas and
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  we got to find a way to have a great
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  practice on Thursday. So, um, but
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  protecting home court is really
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  important. You know, one because
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  obviously, you know, we've it's
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  disappointing because we had two teams
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  that, you know, were really good that
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  had good analytics that could have
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  really helped our resume and we lost to
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  both. Um, so missed opportunities there.
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  Um, but we got to go find a way to, you
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  know, steal a couple on the road and
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  then like you said, you know, try and
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  protect home court, you know, later in
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  the season. But the only way we're going
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  to be able to do that is if, you know,
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  we uh refocus and uh, you know, come
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  back ready to go on Thursday. you
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  mentioned earlier, but you know, Elijah
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  not being able to play as much because
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  of foul trout
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  being out, but you know, just what could
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  he bring for you specifically and kind
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  of how can he build on this moving
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  forward? Um, you know, as as a player,
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  making an impact for you. Yeah, I mean
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  he's, you know, he's he's coachable,
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  uh, plays hard, you know, does all the
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  little things that we ask of him and,
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  uh, you know, I know he has so much more
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  to offer offensively that, you know, I'm
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  really excited to be able to tap into at
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  some point. Um, but, you know, he's just
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  he's a good teammate. You know, he's
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  he's been patient. He's waited his turn
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  and, you know, I love that he was able
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  to play more tonight and be effective.
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  You know, um, only had one foul tonight.
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  So yeah, I mean it's it's it's great to
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  have him out there because, you know, he
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  he rebounds the basketball. He's got
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  great length. You know, to be plus eight
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  in a eight-point loss, that's
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  significant. So, that's something that,
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  you know, we got to look more into and
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  look to try and get him some more