Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Auburn G/F Elyjah Freeman | Florida Preview
Transcript
- 0:01Elijah, what's the mindset you guys got
- 0:03to have as a team when you go on the
- 0:04road and play one of the tallest teams
- 0:06in the country, the defending national
- 0:07champions, you know, one of the one of
- 0:08the biggest and, you know, best at
- 0:10rebounding in the country.
- 0:12>> Um, well, it starts off with step one
- 0:15like today going coming back to practice
- 0:16after having a day off. Just prepping
- 0:19the right way. Um, taking out all the
- 0:20drills that we do today and tomorrow
- 0:23very serious. Probably going to do a lot
- 0:25of boxing out, just paying attention to
- 0:26details and then just a lot of film.
- 0:29just paying attention to all the stuff
- 0:30that they do and the guys coming off the
- 0:31bench and just little stuff like that is
- 0:33what we worry about the most.
- 0:42>> Elijah, the three-point shot hasn't
- 0:44really been falling the last two games,
- 0:45but you guys are still two and 0 despite
- 0:47that. Just what have you guys kind of
- 0:48leaned on through those contests and
- 0:51maybe kind of learned about yourselves
- 0:52despite that shot not falling?
- 0:54>> Um, knowing that our shot hasn't been
- 0:56fallen as a team and collectively we
- 1:00trying to just not let our offense kind
- 1:02of dictate the way we play defense, you
- 1:03know, just trying to um knowing that we
- 1:07can defend and get back on offense even
- 1:09though things might not go our way. Just
- 1:11being able to get stops and more of a
- 1:13chance on offense. Um just been kind of
- 1:16helping us and just trying to stay
- 1:17locked in on the defensive end more than
- 1:19offense because we know how good offense
- 1:20can be. So staying in the gym, you know,
- 1:23we know guys can hit shots, they're
- 1:25eventually going to fall.
- 1:41halfway down,
- 1:43you know, how tough is it not to get
- 1:45frustrated with that and kind of like,
- 1:46all right, these are good shots. I need
- 1:48to keep taking them, you know, not not
- 1:50letting the result.
- 1:52Yeah, I kind of just um I know it's a
- 1:55good shot the way it come out my hands
- 1:57and I don't really care what the
- 1:58aftermath is, make or miss, as long as
- 2:00it come out my hands, it's a good shot.
- 2:01Um I just live with the result. It goes
- 2:04out, goes in, is what it is. Get back on
- 2:06defense and get stops, you know. Um but
- 2:09just standing in the gym and just
- 2:11keeping this the main thing, the main
- 2:12thing moving forward.
- 2:14>> Where do you where do you think you guys
- 2:16have grown the most on defense,
- 2:17especially these last two games?
- 2:19>> Um just being able to help the guy guard
- 2:21the ball being
- 2:23Uh we've been focusing on just not
- 2:25leaving a guy on the island, not letting
- 2:27anybody go one-on-one because we know a
- 2:29lot of players in the SEC can score
- 2:30one-on-one. So just being able to help
- 2:32each other out and
- 2:35um not let any players play on oneonone.
- 2:37That's been really our main factor.
- 2:43You being a Florida guy, what what would
- 2:45it mean to you to go down there and get
- 2:46a win and and this program hasn't won in
- 2:48Gainesville in 30 years. What would it
- 2:50mean to you to be part of that? Yeah, it
- 2:51means a lot. You know, growing up,
- 2:52Florida's one of the main teams I
- 2:54watched and kind of grew up watching,
- 2:56wanted to play for Florida when I was
- 2:58little. So, um, you know, I got family
- 3:01coming to watch and it kind of means a
- 3:03lot. You know, they come driving hours
- 3:05to come watch me play. So, definitely
- 3:07going to give it all I got. Effort and
- 3:08energy is going to be there.
- 3:11>> You guys played Arizona, Purdue,
- 3:13Michigan, some of these like huge teams
- 3:15earlier in the year. How much is that
- 3:16going to help y'all going into this
- 3:17game? because Florida's got a very
- 3:19similar makeup up front.
- 3:20>> Yeah. Um we kind of been here before,
- 3:22you know, playing these high high level
- 3:24high ranked teams. Um
- 3:27like I said, just
- 3:30paying attention to detail from day one
- 3:31starting today, even days before the
- 3:33game and hours before the game. Just
- 3:34little things that build up to the game
- 3:36matter more than just being in the game
- 3:38and playing. But while we're in the
- 3:40game, just making sure making sure that
- 3:43our energy is at the highest level it
- 3:44can be and our effort is there and
- 3:46everybody's just playing with the
- 3:47result.
- 3:52>> Appreciate