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Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Texas A&M Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

0:00
Yeah, SEC hoping home. So, um, another
0:04
late one, but obviously looking forward
0:06
to being back in front of our fans and
0:08
front of the jungle. Um, you know, got
0:11
another, you know, tough opponent in
0:13
Texas&M coming in. Big win for them on
0:16
Tuesday or sorry, Saturday night against
0:19
LSU. Tough LSU squad. So, uh, really
0:22
dynamic offensively, you know, score a
0:25
lot of points. um really play with the
0:28
you know play at a fast tempo. Um so uh
0:32
really trying to speed you up
0:33
defensively. Um I'm glad we played you
0:35
know Georgia obviously before playing
0:37
them because kind of similar in that
0:39
regard. They're going to press for 40
0:40
minutes. Uh Texas&M's a little more
0:42
aggressive in their pressing though.
0:44
They're going to blitz you a little bit
0:46
more and you know try and get you to do
0:47
things that you don't typically
0:48
practice. So, um, yeah, going to be uh,
0:52
you know, fast-paced game, high tempo
0:55
game, and, um, you just excited to get
0:58
back out there. So, take any questions.
1:03
>> Stephen, obviously there's a difference
1:05
between like Queens and Georgia in terms
1:07
of talent level, but did you see stuff
1:08
maybe on film that y'all did on defense
1:11
against Queens that maybe you didn't do
1:12
as much against Georgia? Was it a step
1:14
up? I got like what what did you think
1:17
about it after watching the compared to
1:19
what y'all had done against Queens.
1:22
>> Yeah, it was, you know, we came out, we
1:24
were aggressive defensively and um you
1:26
know, we had two silly fouls. You know,
1:29
uh Keshan reached with the wrong hand
1:31
and kind of ran into the guy in the in
1:33
the in the corner. Um didn't really
1:35
affect the play. I'm I wish they
1:36
wouldn't have called it, but then Kaden
1:38
has a silly foul early and then we had
1:40
two more just kind of whatever hand
1:43
checks which I thought were just
1:44
ridiculous. Um that in itself kind of
1:48
disrupted what we were doing defensively
1:49
because you know we felt like we had to
1:52
you know back off our pressure a little
1:53
bit and it you know kind of set the tone
1:56
for us I thought um and we didn't do a
1:59
good job of just adjusting and I thought
2:00
in the Queen's game we were way more
2:02
loaded in the gaps and we were connected
2:05
defensively and you know we we we did a
2:08
good job of playing physically
2:09
defensively. I thought early, you know,
2:11
with four quick whistles, it kind of,
2:13
you know, it we didn't do a good job of
2:16
adjusting to it as the game went on.
2:18
Obviously, like you said, like there was
2:19
a step up in um talent, a step up in
2:22
speed, a step up in quickness. You know,
2:24
they had guards that could really get by
2:25
us. And the rest of the game, we were
2:27
just hugged up to our men and we were
2:28
never loaded to the ball. and we were
2:29
never in gaps and we didn't square up
2:31
our closeouts and they just drove us,
2:33
you know, uh we jumped we jumped at like
2:35
11 shot fakes and seven of those were on
2:37
the perimeter and all we talked about in
2:39
film was staying down on perimeter shot
2:41
fakes, squaring your man up and loaded
2:43
the ball and we just didn't do a great
2:44
job of doing any of those things and we
2:46
as a coaching staff did a really poor
2:47
job of making the adjustments. So, um
2:50
you know, we just weren't as connected
2:52
and uh it obviously showed and you know,
2:54
we made 127 defensive mistakes. if
2:58
you're just going to nitpick it and look
2:59
through everything.
3:01
127 defensive mistakes and we're up
3:03
three in overtime with three minutes
3:05
left with the ball.
3:07
Everyone cuts three or four of their
3:08
mistakes out defensively throughout that
3:10
game. You know, we went by 10. We also
3:13
missed 12 free throws. So, you know, all
3:16
that to be said, if we just cut down on
3:18
some of our defensive mistakes, you
3:20
know, make a few more free throws,
3:22
obviously, you know, you're able to get
3:23
a great road win uh on the road against
3:25
a ranked team. So, uh, we're right
3:27
there. We just got to, you know,
3:29
obviously execute a little bit better
3:30
and clean a few things up on the
3:32
defensive side.
3:33
>> Yeah. Stephen, I mean, getting to that
3:35
point where they play the defense that
3:36
you want them to play is just continuing
3:38
to show them on film, here's a mistake,
3:40
here's a mistake, we just got to get 10%
3:42
better today. I mean, how do you teach
3:44
them or how do you get them to open
3:46
their eyes?
3:48
>> Yeah, we've shown them on film. Um, you
3:50
know, we've done it in team settings
3:51
and, you know, this week we did it more
3:52
in an individual setting. So, you know
3:55
what we did as a as a group, we watched
3:56
all of our good possessions and we had
3:58
23 really good defensive possessions
3:59
against Georgia. Problem is, it was like
4:01
80s something possessions in the game.
4:03
So, in the other 60 possessions, we
4:05
weren't very good. So, what I did was I
4:07
broke down every single possession and I
4:09
did individual sorters for every player
4:12
for them to come in and watch with a
4:14
coach of what they didn't do well. So,
4:17
you know, we've always shown it on film
4:18
and uh you know, we just kind of changed
4:20
up our approach a little bit this week
4:21
and did it more in like a one-on-one
4:23
setting to see if that would be a little
4:25
would help impact the guys and let them,
4:26
you know, just kind of register a little
4:28
bit more because in one-on-one settings
4:29
maybe maybe it helps as opposed to doing
4:31
it in front of the team. So, um you
4:34
showed a lot of good stuff though, you
4:35
know, showed a lot of good in front of
4:37
the team. You know, we we kind of talked
4:38
through today some of the things that
4:39
we've done this season that, you know,
4:41
could be effective against&m and um you
4:44
know, it's all in there. It's just a
4:46
matter of just bringing it out, you
4:47
know, and just collectively doing it for
4:49
40 minutes.
4:50
>> Back there.
4:53
>> You can really see Philip growing as the
4:55
as the season comes on. Just talk a
4:57
little bit about, you know, how what
4:58
you've seen from him and how important
5:00
he is to what you need there inside.
5:02
>> Yeah, he's just been he's been great,
5:04
you know. Um he was he was an
5:07
unbelievable spark off the bench. Um 10
5:09
points, 10 rebounds, five offensive
5:11
rebounds. Uh he was our best one-on-one
5:14
defender. uh he was the best one
5:16
guarding their guards and he was the
5:17
best one guarding their bigs. And you
5:19
know, we watched film today of him
5:21
getting in a stance and just getting low
5:23
and wide. And I like challenge my guards
5:25
like that's what you guys need to look
5:27
like because if he can do it, like you
5:29
know, you guys should be able to too. Um
5:31
you know, he just he he has a different
5:33
level of pride um than most guy most
5:36
kids you're going to see. And you know,
5:38
he's a freshman, you know, and uh he
5:40
just does so many things. And I
5:42
[clears throat] think part of it is, you
5:43
know, Coach Bowman's been doing a great
5:45
job with Philip, bringing him in, just
5:46
kind of working with him one-on-one. Um,
5:48
and I think it's helped grow his
5:50
confidence, you know, each and every
5:52
day. So, Philip's been way more uh
5:55
present in the practice gym, just
5:57
getting extra reps in, extra work with
5:58
IB, and it and it showed. So for him,
6:01
he's just got to continue to stay
6:02
consistent in those things because you
6:05
you saw like what what he showed against
6:07
Georgia is what the reason why I
6:09
recruited him is because like that's the
6:10
guy I saw, you know, playing overseas,
6:13
you know, for the last couple years is
6:14
just that efficiency and that
6:15
effectiveness and, you know, his ability
6:17
to just use his speed and quickness to
6:19
get to certain spots. And, you know,
6:21
obviously would love to just have him
6:23
for a couple years to just develop him
6:25
because, you know, he can shoot the
6:26
ball, too. We just haven't been able to
6:27
get that side of the game going for him
6:29
yet. So he he's just he's got a ton of
6:31
potential and um if he can continue to
6:33
play like that and give us those minutes
6:34
off the bench, you know, at the four or
6:36
the five, you know, it's just going to
6:38
just it's going to be great for us. So
6:39
glad to see him just continuing to grow.
6:42
>> When you've got a defense and overall
6:44
style, this is unique as what Texas&M
6:46
does. How do you go about preparing for
6:48
that quick, you know, Saturday to
6:50
Tuesday turnaround? Yeah, I mean we uh
6:53
you know the one positive is we just
6:55
played against a team that presses for
6:57
40 minutes, so we we've been able to go
6:58
against it. You know, um St. John's
7:01
pressed for 40 minutes. Um Memphis
7:04
pressed a lot of the game. So, we've
7:06
been lucky enough to go up team against
7:08
teams that have already done that.
7:10
Theirs is a little more unique because
7:11
they do more things out of it and
7:13
they're way more aggressive and you
7:15
know, I think they're better on ball
7:16
defenders than most of the teams that
7:17
we've played and they create more
7:19
turnovers off of it. So, our guys got to
7:21
be assertive. They can't be casual. They
7:23
can't be cool. Um, you watch film and
7:26
you'll see games where, you know,
7:29
they're they're down like 16 at SMU and
7:31
then all of a sudden they're up four
7:33
with 30 seconds left and, you know, had
7:36
a chance to win that game. Um, you know,
7:39
they, you know, they just they can flip
7:41
games really quickly with just their
7:43
pressure and their ability to just
7:44
create steals and, uh, they do a great
7:46
job of sharing it with one another. They
7:48
I think are fourth in the country in
7:50
assists per field goals made. So they
7:52
just do a great job of sharing the
7:53
basketball and they do a great job of
7:55
creating offense from their defense. So
7:56
for us it's you know watching film of
7:58
you know what other teams are doing uh
8:00
and what you know what doesn't work and
8:02
you know just kind of showing them we've
8:04
gone against this this year and these
8:06
are the things that we have to do in
8:07
order for us to be successful against
8:08
you know their their their defense.
8:13
with Sway. I mean, he 42 minutes in his
8:15
first SEC game. What did you kind of
8:17
make of his performance? I know he
8:19
didn't score, but he was out there a lot
8:20
for you all defensively. Pretty good
8:22
force on the boards as well.
8:24
>> Yeah, I have high expectations for for
8:27
Sebastian, you know, and in 41 minutes,
8:29
you know, he's got to be he's got to be
8:32
more impactful when he's in in in there
8:34
in the game. Now, here here's here's
8:35
what like we didn't talk about this
8:37
after the game. Elijah was out of the
8:39
game for like 12 minutes because there
8:41
was a moving screen the other end where
8:43
the guy basically just like knees his
8:45
his thigh and he had like a thigh
8:46
contusion and he like it kind of locked
8:49
up on him. So Sebastian probably played
8:52
five to seven too many minutes and it
8:54
you know it led to some fatigue late in
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the game. Um and Sebastian is best when
9:00
he is just fresh and he's flying around
9:01
and doing all the things that he can do
9:03
to affect the game you know on both ends
9:05
of the floor. And I think, you know, I
9:07
played him too many minutes because one,
9:08
it was kind of out of necessity um just
9:11
because of foul trouble and obviously I
9:13
just trust Sebastian when he's out there
9:14
to do the things that he needs to do in
9:16
order for us to win. Um but I need him
9:18
to be more assertive and more aggressive
9:20
and I need him to, you know, obviously
9:22
um do a better job of just finishing
9:24
around the rim against the better teams
9:25
on our schedule because I know he's
9:26
capable of doing so. And you know, um,
9:29
this will be a good game for him because
9:31
the ball is going to be in his hands
9:32
against the press and he does a really
9:33
good job of bringing the ball up the
9:35
floor, you know, and you you've kind of
9:36
seen it how aggressive he can be in the
9:38
pace that he plays with, but he plays
9:39
under control. So, I'm excited for him
9:41
in this game because, you know, I think
9:42
it's something that could kind of play
9:44
to his strengths a little bit more. But
9:45
defensively, you know, it was the first
9:48
time and I think it was part of it was
9:50
because the rest of the team was doing
9:50
it where he wasn't out there making as
9:52
many plays as he typically does. he was
9:54
kind of hugged up to his man in the
9:55
corner and you know he's he's more
9:57
accountable than anybody in those
9:58
situations. So while he played 41
10:00
minutes and you know he had I don't know
10:02
what he had like seven rebounds like he
10:04
did a great job on the boards like I
10:06
need him to be more aggressive getting
10:08
to the rim and finishing through
10:09
contact. I need him to I need him to
10:11
step out and shoot a pick and pop three.
10:13
Like I need him you know to do the
10:15
things that I know he's really good at.
10:16
And we got to do a better job of getting
10:17
the ball in his hands in certain
10:18
situations because he's such a good
10:19
passer. Um, but he's got to, you know,
10:22
when he's out there, um, you know, he's
10:24
got to just continue to look to be
10:25
effective in the ways that we know he's
10:27
capable of. And part of it was just, you
10:28
know, Elijah, we should, if Elijah
10:31
hadn't gotten hurt, Elijah would have
10:32
probably played 30 and then Sebastian
10:33
would have only had to play like 34 and
10:36
he would have been a little more fresh
10:37
out there. So, that was just kind of how
10:39
the game kind of flowed. But, um, no, I
10:42
mean, he's got to play a lot of minutes
10:43
for us because he's effective. Um, you
10:46
know, part of it was you I think in some
10:48
of our high major games recently, he's
10:50
gotten in foul trouble early in the
10:51
games and I think he was trying not to
10:53
do that. He's a smart enough player
10:54
though to play aggressively without
10:56
fouling. And that's what I just continue
10:57
to tell him is like, you know, you can
10:58
still be aggressive and without fouling.
11:00
You you know what that looks like. So,
11:02
it's the thing that just comes with
11:03
experience. You know, we got three or
11:04
four freshman out there right now and
11:06
um, you know, they're just continuing to
11:08
to learn and to grow each game.
11:10
>> Jess, when you talk about the defensive
11:12
mistakes, how much effort, how much is
11:16
dialing into the game plan? Like what's
11:18
the expectation on the improvement that
11:21
you want to see from game to game? Like
11:23
what are you like, hey, that's an effort
11:24
thing or hey, that's that's just
11:26
something that maybe you guys got to
11:27
adjust to takes time. Like how do you
11:29
sort of view what you want to see the
11:31
next time?
11:32
>> Yeah, I mean if you sat there and just
11:34
digested or just picked apart
11:36
everything, you would have way too much
11:38
to try and fix, you know? So, you gota
11:40
you got to simplify and find one or two
11:42
things that we got to get better at. And
11:44
I think the two main things is our
11:46
closeouts on the ball and our
11:48
positioning off the ball. Our our
11:50
closeouts were were really bad against
11:51
Georgia. We were way too opened up. Um
11:54
and we had we offered zero help off the
11:57
ball. Everyone was just hugged up to
11:58
their men off the ball. So, those are
11:59
like the two biggest things I need to
12:01
see improvement on this week is just
12:02
squaring up our closeouts more and just
12:05
being more loaded to the ball and gaps.
12:06
And if we can do those thing, those two
12:08
things, a lot of our mistakes, you know,
12:09
would I think be fixed. We don't have
12:11
great rim protection. You know, our best
12:13
rim our our best rim protector is our
12:15
675 man Philip because he rotates over
12:17
and he gets vertical every single time.
12:20
And Georgia made like I told our guys
12:23
like they made 10 like FU shots. Like
12:26
when they make a shot, I'm like you like
12:28
I can't believe he just made that. Like
12:31
that's going to happen. We got to limit
12:33
the freaking layups and we just we let
12:35
them have six or seven uncontested
12:38
layups. Like we need collisions at the
12:39
rim and the way to avoid those
12:42
collisions is squaring up your stance on
12:44
your closeouts and then being in the gap
12:46
to offer a little bit more help. And if
12:48
we do those two things, like I think a
12:49
lot of the things that we're looking at
12:52
on film, you obviously can get fixed.
12:54
And but to answer your question even
12:56
more specifically like
12:58
paying more attention to what we're
13:00
showing you in film is really important.
13:03
Um you know just a quick example like
13:07
perimeter shot fakes. They do it all the
13:09
time and we jumped at like 10 or 11 of
13:12
them. Got to stop doing that. Like every
13:14
time you jump at a perimeter shot fake
13:16
against a team that would rather shoot
13:18
twos. They're going to have the
13:19
advantage when they drive past you. And
13:20
like you know Tahad jumped at like four
13:23
or five of them. KO jumped at a couple.
13:24
Elijah, like our guards have got to stay
13:26
down on their feet and, you know, in
13:28
those situations. So, I think it's just
13:29
having a little more attention to detail
13:31
on some of the things that we're we're
13:33
talking about in the scout. We as
13:34
coaches got to simplify it a little bit
13:35
more. I think we may be shown them a
13:36
little bit too much right now with 10
13:38
new guys. It's hard because we've been
13:41
doing things a certain way for a long
13:42
time and it's been effective, but we've
13:44
also had retention on a lot of these
13:45
teams. We don't have that with this
13:46
group. So, you know, we got to we got to
13:49
make adjustments as a staff and I think
13:50
we've done so this week.
13:53
with Texas A&M and the way they do do
13:55
their offense. It's completely different
13:56
team than last year. Just with Buckyy's
13:59
style and just kind of what they're
14:00
doing, what stands out to you about
14:01
about them, like you said, very similar
14:03
to Georgia and how they like to play
14:04
fast and attack.
14:06
>> Yeah, I mean, first shot they like is
14:08
going up. Um, so you got to do an
14:10
unbelievable job in your transition
14:11
defense getting back and just getting
14:12
bodies on bodies. You can't worry about
14:14
your matchups in transition because they
14:16
do such a great job of advance passing
14:18
it. Um, and then those guys, you know,
14:20
Griffin will just pull it from three,
14:22
Dominguez will just pull it from three,
14:24
uh, Pop Isaac will just pull it from
14:25
three, and then they got a couple water
14:27
bugs that just drive it downhill and can
14:30
get down to their right hands really,
14:31
really, really quick. So, uh, we got to
14:33
do a really good job of, you know,
14:35
building a wall on on Marcus Hill and,
14:37
you know, on Jakari Lane and Josh
14:39
Holloway. All those guys are really
14:41
fast, dynamic downhill guards and, uh,
14:43
they can, you know, make threes and they
14:45
can make twos. So, um, we just got to
14:48
get back in in transition and, you know,
14:51
get bodies on bodies, loads the ball,
14:53
and, um, you know, kind of guard them
14:55
from there. And you just can't be
14:56
surprised when a shot goes up. They, uh,
14:58
they're a much better offensive
14:59
rebounding team than I think what the
15:01
numbers show. They do a really good job,
15:03
you know, because they shoot some A3
15:04
threes. They do a great job of getting
15:05
long shots, long rebounds. So, got to
15:08
get back in transition and we got to we
15:09
got to, you know, contest shots and we
15:10
got to box out.
15:13
>> Last one.
15:14
>> Yeah. You talked about after the George
15:15
game like this team can rebound. You
15:17
know, your team can just how how big has
15:19
that been? Because at the beginning of
15:20
the year, there was some questions about
15:22
that, but you guys have really continued
15:24
to show against some teams that can
15:25
rebound like Georgia, how you know, how
15:27
much how better than I think expectation
15:30
maybe would say.
15:31
>> Yeah. I mean, if you like we played we
15:34
played four teams that were just like
15:36
enormous. [laughter]
15:39
Purdue, Arizona, Michigan were all just
15:42
like, you know, they just they had
15:44
traditional size as far as like too they
15:46
they looked like us last year. So, you
15:49
know, um we obviously the rebounding
15:51
margin in those games was, you know, not
15:53
what we wanted it to be. U but if you
15:55
look at the rest of the teams we've
15:56
played on our schedule, we've I think we
15:58
got rebounded most of them. So, um I
16:01
thought our guys on the offensive glass
16:03
were phenomenal against Georgia. you
16:04
know, 23 offensive rebounds, you know,
16:07
um is really good. It just shows that we
16:09
were making multiple efforts and, you
16:10
know, that's something that I think
16:11
we're the 13th best offensive rebounding
16:13
team in college basketball right now.
16:14
So, got to continue to do that and it's,
16:16
you know, it's just about effort and
16:17
just finishing possessions. So, uh we
16:20
have we have got we have good athletes
16:21
and we have good speed and quickness to
16:23
kind of get those, you know, those those
16:24
50-50 balls. We got to do a better job
16:26
though when a shot goes up on the
16:28
defensive end of all five guys hitting
16:30
somebody as opposed to we got a couple
16:31
guys that leak out too often. So, got to
16:34
finish possessions, especially against
16:35
this team, cuz they're going to send
16:36
five guys to the offensive glass because
16:37
they get right up into pressure. So, if
16:40
we can secure rebounds, we can get out
16:41
in transition and run. So, it's really
16:43
important that all five guys kind of
16:44
finish possessions and stay in the