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

• 0:03
  All right, coach.
• 0:06
  >> Yeah, I thought our guys battled
• 0:07
  tonight. Um, you know, obviously playing
• 0:10
  a shorter rotation. Um, you know, heavy
• 0:13
  minutes for a lot of our guys. Thought,
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  you know, did a good job of uh, you
• 0:17
  know, putting out the effort that was
• 0:19
  required in order for us to uh, you
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  know, have a chance. um did a good job
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  in the first half of just dwindling it
• 0:24
  down to six and uh you know the
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  beginning of the second half we missed
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  three just you know wide open shots and
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  they come down and convert on all three
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  and uh that was you know ultimately
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  where the game kind of got away got to
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  21 and then you're kind of fighting back
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  the rest of the half and the rest of the
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  game. Um so you know uh they had a lot
• 0:41
  of step up. You know Billy Richmond um
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  you know has 12 two-point baskets and uh
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  you know that was a huge point of
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  emphasis for us is trying to keep them
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  out of two-point field goals and you
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  know he uh did a great job for him and
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  uh you know he's an X-factor when he can
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  do those things and then you know Darius
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  obviously makes seven threes. So, um,
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  those two things right there ultimately
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  where the game was decided and, um, you
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  know, they just did a great job of
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  disrupting us with some of their ball
• 1:04
  pressure early, uh, kind of throwing us
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  off our off balance and, um, you know, I
• 1:09
  thought we had some step up from, you
• 1:10
  know, Murf and Tahad offensively. Yeah,
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  just we weren't able to get enough stops
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  to kind of stay in the game and, uh,
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  didn't make enough easy easy open ones
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  as the game went on. So, take any
• 1:19
  questions.
• 1:20
  >> Uh, coach, um, I know not the outcome
• 1:22
  you wanted, but can you talk a little
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  bit more about the, um, the game from
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  Tahad tonight? He really, you know,
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  seven assist uh only three turnovers. Um
• 1:29
  really played well offensively,
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  particularly in the second half.
• 1:31
  >> Yeah, he's been phenomenal offensively
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  the last three games. You know, I think
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  he has 21 assists and like maybe seven
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  turnovers in the last three games. So,
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  he's doing his part offensively. Um you
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  know, I'm just going to continue to push
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  him defensively. Um but, you know, he's
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  he's given the effort that's required.
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  He's really been consistent with his
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  routines um you know, during the week in
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  preparation for games. And uh you know
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  it's when when he's making shots like
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  that, our ceiling obviously goes way up.
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  So you know I'm excited that Todd's you
• 1:58
  know starting to do that and starting to
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  turn a corner because he makes our team
• 2:01
  better. Uh so you know it's something
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  that we've been kind of waiting on and
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  uh you know I want him to just stay
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  consistent because even though we've
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  lost the last three while he's been
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  playing well offensively, you know once
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  this thing turns around he's making
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  shots. You obviously um it'll be
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  positive for us. Obviously,
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  Aub is who he is in this this Arkansas
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  offenses. Do you feel like you got your
• 2:21
  guys did like executed what y'all wanted
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  to do on defense and it was more than
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  just knocking down shots like they like
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  they didn't do in the first game?
• 2:29
  >> We were a little backed off at Akuff
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  because we were trying to stop him from
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  driving it because if you looked at his
• 2:34
  last five games like 80% of his 83% of
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  his attempts were from two and I think
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  like 75% of his makes were from two. So
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  he hadn't, you know, while he'd made 10
• 2:43
  over those five games, he was being
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  really aggressive attacking the paint
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  and we were trying to keep him out of
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  that. I think by doing that, we were
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  backed off of him on the ball. And if
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  you give a player like that any sort of
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  space, he's going to knock shots down.
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  And uh, you know, then once he makes one
• 2:57
  or two clean ones, that then allows him
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  when he does his dribble pulls and, you
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  know, at that point the basket gets
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  really big for him. And uh, you know,
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  he's a phenomenal player. So you know,
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  he's uh, we did a great job on him in
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  the first game and obviously didn't do
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  very well on him tonight.
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  First game, I think you guys were plus
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  20 points in the paint. Tonight,
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  Arkansas really flipped that script.
• 3:16
  What was the difference? That speaks for
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  itself, but what did you see out there
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  that was maybe different?
• 3:22
  >> Well, Keshan Hall wasn't out there, so
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  that makes a big difference when our guy
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  that's as good attacking the paint as
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  anybody in college basketball is not on
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  the floor. It makes our points in the
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  paint go down. So, that was probably the
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  biggest difference for me. And Billy
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  Billy did a great job of just attacking
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  one-on-one closeouts and our guys had no
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  answer for it. So, um, you know, they,
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  uh,
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  had 17 points in transition, so a lot of
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  those are probably paint touches as
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  well. Um, so, yeah, those are probably
• 3:50
  the two or three things.
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  >> And as good as Murphy was tonight, it
• 3:52
  looked like Trevor Brazil's rim
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  protection, maybe not the big second
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  half for Murphy like they had the first
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  half, was that did that play a factor in
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  that?
• 4:00
  >> Um,
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  yeah, he had four block shots, so, you
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  know, he did a good job of uh contesting
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  around the rim and, you know, if he
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  didn't block the shot, he altered it.
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  Um, so yeah, he uh he's a very versatile
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  defender and when he's able to be around
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  the rim and he and he stays down on shot
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  pegs, he's really good.
• 4:17
  >> Yeah, coach. Um, he talked a little bit
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  about Murphy, but he did have a really
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  good first half for you all and uh
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  seemed to really have bring the energy
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  for you guys. What did you um talk to
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  him about in terms of just kind of
• 4:27
  stepping up in the absence of Hall out
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  there? Yeah, I think Murf was really
• 4:31
  disappointed in his performance against
• 4:33
  um Vanderbilt and he knew that he needed
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  to step up with uh with Key not being in
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  the game and uh you know he played with
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  great pace and great tempo and uh did a
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  really good job of you know taking what
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  the defense gave him and um you know he
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  was explosive tonight and uh you know
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  that's the Murf that you know we
• 4:49
  obviously need every single night in
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  order for us to win. So uh you know
• 4:52
  happy happy with his performance. I mean
• 4:54
  he's uh plus minus he's he's zero on the
• 4:57
  plus minus. He's flat in 33 minutes. So
• 5:00
  in the what would that be? 6 and 1/2
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  minutes he doesn't play, we're minus 13.
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  So that's unbelievable. So Murf played
• 5:08
  great. So he uh needs to keep that
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  going.
• 5:11
  >> Steve, was this a game where obviously
• 5:13
  had a lot from Murf and Tai, but with
• 5:14
  key out, you probably need a little bit
• 5:16
  more step up from from somebody from
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  somebody else. Maybe at least one more
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  guy. Yeah, I mean Sebastian Ko Elijah,
• 5:23
  you know, for those guys to go,
• 5:27
  what is that? Six for 28.
• 5:31
  Not going to win when that happens. So,
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  um, you know, and I know those guys
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  obviously want to play better. Like, you
• 5:37
  know, KO never misses open shots like
• 5:39
  that. You know, he just he missed two
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  butt naked ones in the beginning of the
• 5:42
  second half. And like, you make that
• 5:43
  first three, we're down six. You know,
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  it's a different game at that point. And
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  uh when you see the first one go down,
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  you know, it obviously gets you going um
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  and you know, it's uh Elijah did a good
• 5:55
  job of rebounding, but you know, I
• 5:57
  thought he was a little tentative um on
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  both ends of the floor and uh you know,
• 6:01
  we just we needed step up from one or
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  two more guys offensively and uh you
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  know, unfortunately we just didn't have
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  it tonight.
• 6:08
  >> Anything else for coach?
• 6:09
  >> Just one more coach. Um, in terms of
• 6:11
  rebounding though, you guys early in the
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  game being dominated, but kind of
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  stepped back up later in the game to to
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  be able to to do a much better job on
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  the glass. Um, how did you guys kind of
• 6:22
  get back into that kind of effort on the
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  glass?
• 6:24
  >> Yeah, I just think, you know, we knew
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  where shots were going up and, uh, we
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  did a good job of crashing the offensive
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  glass, had 15 offensive rebounds and,
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  uh, you know, we only held that we held
• 6:33
  them to seven offensive rebounds. I
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  think they had three in the first half.
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  So guys did a good job of uh checking
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  out on every single possession and I
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  thought in the second half offensively,
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  you know, uh we did a good job of flying
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  to the rim um cuz we knew when shots
• 6:46
  were going up and gave ourselves a
• 6:48
  chance to get some second chance
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  opportunities. So um yeah, they battled,
• 6:51
  you know, obviously it's it's going to
• 6:53
  be hard for us to win games when Keyy's
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  not out there. Um and uh you know, but
• 6:57
  you know, I thought our guys, you know,
• 6:59
  grinded, battled, played in a really
• 7:00
  tough environment against a really good
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  team. And um you know we have six games
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  in front of us right now that um you
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  know our schedule while it's never easy
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  you know we've played the number one
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  strength of schedule in our conference
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  up to this point today. Um and then you
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  know I think after tonight we'll
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  probably have the number one strength of
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  schedule in college basketball. So, all
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  that being said, like you know, we got
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  to take advantage of these last six um
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  because, you know, uh we're as good as
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  as all the teams that we play moving
• 7:27
  forward. And uh you know, we just got to
• 7:28
  capitalize and we got to come together
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  and we got to limit our distractions off
• 7:32
  the floor, you know, we got to stop
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  being put in positions where we have to
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  make decisions u to discipline guys. And
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  uh if we can do that and really focus on
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  basketball for a couple weeks, this
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  team's shown that it has the ability to
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  uh you know, win big games.
• 7:46
  >> Thanks,