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Auburn HC Steven Pearl - LSU Win · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  you know, just want to start again by
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  thanking our fans. Um, I had our guys
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  after the game get to the exits and
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  just, you know, try and personally thank
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  everybody. Um, that they've been
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  unbelievable all season and, you know,
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  have supported this team. Um, you know,
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  I wouldn't say more than they deserve,
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  but they've just they've been there
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  throughout the highs and the lows and
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  have just stayed so consistent and have
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  stayed um, you know, just it's what they
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  do, though. That's what that's what
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  Auburn's all about. That's why Auburn's
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  special and uh you know our our kids are
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  incredibly grateful for that and uh you
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  know we talked about obviously doing
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  this for the seniors. We talked about
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  doing this you know for our fans um
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  because you know they they all deserved
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  it. So um just so so grateful for our
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  students, the jungle, the leadership of
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  the jungle and uh you know all the old
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  people that took an extra nap today for
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  this ridiculous tip off. Um so want to
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  thank our fans. They're phenomenal. Um,
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  you know, obviously, uh, great to get a
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  win. Um, great to send our seniors out
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  on the right note. Um, obviously needed
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  that one. And, uh, you know, I thought
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  defensively we did a lot of really good
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  things early. Uh, we were disruptive. We
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  turned them over. We went back to some
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  things that we were doing earlier this
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  year. Um, and I thought that was
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  effective. And, uh, we were very in
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  control offensively tonight, which makes
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  a big difference. So, um, you know,
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  happy with the result and, uh, you know,
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  got to try and build off it. take any
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  questions.
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  >> Wasn't always fast break points, but
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  looks like you guys got in transition
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  and they really made a emphasis on push.
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  How effective was that and kind of what
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  I know what what stood out about this
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  match up that made y'all think y'all can
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  do that as well?
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  >> I mean, we we talked about if we had
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  turnovers to to get out and go in the
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  first half. I thought we did a good job
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  um off of turnovers of just making the
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  easy pass in transition. We felt like we
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  had a speed advantage at at the fiveman,
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  getting down the floor and uh you know,
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  I thought our guards did a better job of
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  getting down to the corners and just
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  spreading out spreading out the uh you
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  know, the defense. You know, Elijah got
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  to the corner, made a big three at the
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  end of the first half, which was huge.
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  Um so, you know, guys just did a good
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  job of running their fast break lanes
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  and we made simple passes and you know,
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  we had one or two turnovers in the first
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  half. Uh 10 assists and two turnovers,
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  which you know, was was really important
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  for that first half for us to have that
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  lead.
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  Stephen, I had two for you. You're one
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  and0 in the suit. Are we going to see
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  that return or is that just a one time
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  thing for senior day?
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  >> Yeah, Key asked for me asked me to dress
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  up a few weeks ago for senior day. So, I
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  decided to do so and uh you know, it's a
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  I don't know. Might have to um you have
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  the battle of the Blazers on Saturday,
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  but um no, I mean it's uh it's
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  uncomfortable. It's hot. um feel like
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  I'm going to rip through my pants every
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  time I try and bend down. So, it's
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  But maybe, you know, maybe uh if if the
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  guy I'll ask the guys if the guys want
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  me to wear it, um I'll wear it. It
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  definitely kept me a little more calm
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  because um you know, you not you're not
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  able to you could rip through this thing
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  if you get too uh too excited. So, uh
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  maybe we'll see.
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  >> And then just defensively, I know you
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  said you guys went back to some stuff,
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  but I think 13 steals tonight was the
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  most in SEC play. just just what were
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  maybe some of the things you saw that
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  that led to that or just I guess what
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  were some of the things that maybe you
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  guys went back to defensively tonight?
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  >> Yeah, we we we went back to an old ball
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  screen coverage which we've done a lot
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  through this these last eight games. We
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  just were a little more consistent with
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  it tonight and I thought we learned from
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  some of the mistakes we made in previous
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  games which was really important. Part
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  of it was like scout specific though
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  with LSU and their personnel. So it
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  doesn't that doesn't work with every
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  team. It worked really well tonight
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  because, you know, it it worked with the
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  guys that were in the initial actions.
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  Um, but we just had more we were more
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  active with our hands. You know, Tahad
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  has four steals and KO's got two and
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  Sebastian's got two. We were just way
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  more active and I thought more we were
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  just more aggressive and uh we were in
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  the right positions and we did a good
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  job of making plays and we were just way
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  more active and you know um when you
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  play with great energy and activity like
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  that, you know, anything you do is going
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  to work. So that's that's what we have
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  to continue to do in order for our
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  defense to be able to, you know, turn
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  teams over and uh, you know, be able to
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  get stops.
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  >> Stephen, you guys have lost seven of
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  your last eight coming into this game
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  with a lot of things still being up in
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  the air. Was this the
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  >> was was this the game that that kind of
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  settled everything down? Do you feel
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  like this could build going into
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  Alabama? How does this how does this win
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  feel for for you and the team going into
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  the season? Yeah, it was obviously, you
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  know, it was a big one. Um, you know, we
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  just we talked about, you know, we can't
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  we can't do anything about what happened
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  over the last eight games. All we can do
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  is, you know, be where our feet are and,
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  you know, control these next 40 minutes.
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  And I thought our guys did a great job
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  of that.
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  >> Peter, you got McKinnon three points. He
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  only took, you know, three
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  three-pointers. What went into the
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  performance there?
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  >> Yeah, I mean, we we just we we were just
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  we did a better job. He hit his first
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  three in transition and then I thought,
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  you know, our guards did a great job of
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  just being, you know, connected to him
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  and not overhelping on penetration. Uh
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  part of that was cuz we didn't require a
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  ton of help because how we how we guard
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  the ball screen. So, uh guys did a good
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  job. Uh we're way more locked in and,
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  you know, it was great to see us, you
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  know, be able to lock down a team's
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  leading scoreer for the first time in a
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  while. So, credit to, you know, Tahad
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  and, um, KO, Elijah, um, Kei, whoever
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  was guarding him did did a really good
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  job. What
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  >> about Michael? Then Nathan,
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  >> uh, coach, you you said repeatedly you
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  need your best players to play better
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  defense. Feel like you're scoring a
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  pretty decent clip. Can you talk about
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  how you're getting your team to respond
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  to playing better defense so late in
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  this season when a lot of teams kind of
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  just are who they are at this point, but
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  your guys seem to be responding?
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  >> Yeah, I thought Tahad, you know, really
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  made a step in the right direction
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  today. I need tonight I need him to
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  continue to do so. You know, KO I
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  thought was as about as physical as he's
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  been in his one-on-one defense in in a
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  while, which is what he's shown and
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  capable of doing. Um, you know, I just
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  thought that, you know, there was just
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  way more, um, we were just way more
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  intentional with a lot of the things
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  that we did defensively and, uh, we got
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  to continue to do that. So, um, you
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  know, it was good. you know, Blake gave
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  us some really good minutes in there.
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  Um, you know, when he came in
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  defensively and, um, so yeah, I mean,
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  the guys did a did a much better job
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  tonight. So, we obviously have to carry
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  that over to Saturday against a really
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  highowered offense and, you know, into
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  the SEC tournament.
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  >> KO plays 37 minutes, has four
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  three-pointers. Seems like he's had a
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  lot of games recently where he's he's
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  been able to hit high volume of
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  three-point shots, I guess. How how nice
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  has that been to have a player like that
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  who's who's been pretty consistent from
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  the three-point line cuz he was getting
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  him in transition then he got him in the
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  half court sets too.
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  >> Yeah, I mean he had some tough ones too.
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  Um and he was just kind of feeling it
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  tonight. So KO was great and you know
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  I'm I'm more pleased with what he did
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  defensively than what he did
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  offensively. We we've we've we've been
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  good offensively all year. We're top top
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  12 or 13 offense. It was really great to
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  see him and Tahad really sit down and
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  guard and um that you know if they do
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  that you know continue to do that moving
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  forward we'll have a chance to win you
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  know some games moving forward. So but
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  yeah I mean him hitting shots him and
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  Tahad making eight threes and shoot
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  Elijah making you know those those three
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  guys hitting 10 is obviously significant
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  and that changes what we do offensively
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  when we're able to knock down shots.
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  >> Go a few more Jerry
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  >> coach the the leap to was able to take
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  defensively this year overall. What does
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  that kind of say about his ceiling as a
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  basketball player?
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  >> Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, tonight
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  he he showed what he's capable of in
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  games where he's just really active with
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  his hands and because he's not always in
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  the right spots, but like if you're not
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  in the right spot, at least go be
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  aggressive and make plays, and I thought
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  he did that really well tonight. So,
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  would love for him to continue to do
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  that. Um, you know, he just took some
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  pride in his in his one-on-one defense.
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  And he he kind of likes Bless you. He
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  kind of likes when we switch because he
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  likes fronting the post and, you know,
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  kind of battling down there kind of to a
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  fault because like somebody will try and
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  kick him out and he'll like push him off
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  and I'm like, "Let him kick you out,
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  Todd. It's fine." Um, but no, he was he
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  was good. Really good tonight. And uh,
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  you know, need him to continue to do so.
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  >> Key plus 17 for you guys tonight. Not
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  his best scoring game obviously, but you
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  know, bled on defensive boards and he
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  had he didn't have a turnover till that
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  late one. just kind of what did you
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  think about him especially on senior
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  senior night playing a complete game for
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  Hillary?
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  >> Yeah, he was he was very solid. You
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  know, similar to to Tahad and KO, you
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  know, I thought he didn't force the
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  issue too much. He had a couple tough
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  ones early, but you know, I kind of I
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  liked all of his threes. They were, you
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  know, um you know, guys were kind of
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  backed off of him, and those are shots
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  that he usually makes. Um you know, I
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  thought defensively he did a did a
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  pretty good job tonight and uh yeah, I
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  mean, I thought he probably could have
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  gotten to the foul line a few more
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  times. He got he got a couple tough no
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  calls, but you know he uh you know I
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  thought he was very solid and you know
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  didn't force the issue in the second
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  half. Um he kind of let the let the game
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  come to him and uh you know for him to
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  score 17 and that to be an off night
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  that that just speaks to his impact and
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  you know how Kate Bully is of really
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  scoring but you know he obviously saw it
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  to hot and KO had it going and you know
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  he kind of deferred to them a little bit
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  which was great.
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  >> Last one.
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  >> You have some experienced players key
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  Kevin Overton guys who have been through
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  the bubble before, you know, what have
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  you seen out of them, not just tonight,
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  but the last couple of weeks as far as
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  just being able to to show the rest of
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  the guys what it takes?
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  >> Yeah, I mean, you know, we we've we've
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  tried not to talk about it a ton. Uh,
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  obviously, you know, you guys do a good
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  job of that for us. Um, so, you know,
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  it's just it's been it's been a tough
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  stretch, honestly. It really has. You
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  know, cuz we just, you know, have had
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  some tough losses. And um you know, for
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  us moving forward, it's just got to be
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  about what we're doing in the moment and
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  you know, where our feet are. And uh we
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  just got to continue to try and you
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  know, get better over these next few
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  weeks because if we do, we can we can
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  beat some people. And um you know, but
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  that's that's really all our focus is on
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  right now is just playing better
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  basketball. And I thought we took a step
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  in the right direction tonight.
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  >> All right, coach.
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  >> Thanks, guys. Pray.