Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Auburn G Blake Muschalek - Missouri Preview
Transcript
- 0:00his SP talk to you about how you foul
- 0:02more than he did when he was in college
- 0:04because he's said that to us a few times
- 0:06now.
- 0:07>> I I hear enough from him. I I get it in
- 0:10practice. The other day I was playing
- 0:11scout team and I was guarding uh KMAG
- 0:13like full court and in film he said I
- 0:16failed him eight times coming up the
- 0:18court. So he definitely he definitely
- 0:20gives me enough of that um crap. But
- 0:23it's we kind of go back and forth about
- 0:24it. So, it's fun
- 0:29>> from scout team player. I know it's you
- 0:32guys put in a lot of work. Sort of how
- 0:33gratifying was it to have the
- 0:35performance that you did on on Saturday
- 0:37and how much are you looking about you
- 0:40remaining in the rotation and doing good
- 0:42things for this team? How much you
- 0:43looking forward to continuing that SEC
- 0:45play?
- 0:45>> For sure. I mean, that was awesome. It's
- 0:47a great crowd. My dad got to be here and
- 0:48see it. So, he loved that. But I was
- 0:51just happy that we could get a win, get
- 0:52our first SEC win under our belt, and
- 0:55obviously it was great to be out there.
- 0:57Um, and it was super fun.
- 1:00>> What's kind of been the difference for
- 1:01y'all defensively like from that
- 1:02Arkansas game, but also in the half
- 1:04court, y'all were a lot better in the
- 1:06end game. What's kind of changed coming
- 1:08off that Georgia lost?
- 1:10>> Yeah, after the Georgia game, we really
- 1:11emphasized being in the gaps. We were
- 1:13too spread out against Georgia. Um,
- 1:15hugged up to our men, so we kind of just
- 1:16been focused on being in the gaps. has
- 1:18done a lot of shell drill the past uh
- 1:20week or so and so that's been the main
- 1:21difference I think
- 1:25has said a few times you guys have had
- 1:27tremendous practices and preparation
- 1:29really the better part of the last few
- 1:30weeks even if you have a couple losses
- 1:33mixed in there I guess just how pleased
- 1:34have you and the rest of the team been
- 1:36how you guys have been locked in even
- 1:38with a couple tough losses here early in
- 1:40SEC play
- 1:40>> yeah I don't I don't think the losses
- 1:42dictated how we practice at all if
- 1:44anything helped us practice harder all
- 1:46week um and I've been going I was going
- 1:48back and forth between uh rotating in
- 1:50and doing scout team. I would play live
- 1:52with scout team, try to keep my
- 1:53conditioning, all that. But practice has
- 1:55been good. Energyy's been super high and
- 1:57SP's been keeping us going. So, even
- 1:59with the losses, he's brought great
- 2:00energy.
- 2:02>> Anything else for Blake? Yep.
- 2:05>> We'll go with you, Jeff.
- 2:06>> No, you got it.
- 2:09>> When you're running the point and in
- 2:12games like against Arkansas
- 2:14like that, what's the adjustment period?
- 2:17you had to grow into that role, I guess.
- 2:20>> I mean, I guess I really didn't have too
- 2:22much time to adjust because that was my
- 2:23first time playing point guard this
- 2:25year. So, kind of got thrown in the
- 2:26fire, but I loved it. In high school, I
- 2:28always play point guard and I love
- 2:29playing against athletic big dudes. And
- 2:31I mean, it was I don't really think
- 2:33about it when I'm on the court. It's
- 2:34just like I'm playing basketball. It's
- 2:36not really a matchup thing for me. It's
- 2:37kind of just going out there and playing
- 2:39one to win.
- 2:40>> You guys had a two to one since the
- 2:42turnover ratio. Ball movements something
- 2:44that's talked about a lot. just, you
- 2:46know, how much of an emphasis has that
- 2:47been for y'all for the last couple
- 2:48weeks? How much better is this offense
- 2:50when y'all are moving it like you did
- 2:52against Arkansas?
- 2:53>> For sure. Um, that's been a huge, huge
- 2:56deal in practice. We do a drill called
- 2:572v1 shooting where it's about making the
- 3:00right read out of a double team or
- 3:01something like that. And we obviously
- 3:02get a lot of that with key in the post
- 3:04and such and just moving the ball. Our
- 3:07offense looks so much cleaner. When it
- 3:08sticks, it slows down. Um, and when
- 3:11everyone touches it, it's just more fun.
- 3:12So,
- 3:13>> yeah.
- 3:15after the game was talking about this
- 3:16coaching staff being really positive and
- 3:19being one that always is able to point
- 3:20out the positives, you know, every
- 3:22single day. Stephen kind of leading the
- 3:23charge there. What is important about
- 3:26the way that they've kind of gone about
- 3:28this season? You guys have had a lot of
- 3:29diversity, lots of new players, changing
- 3:31over from BP to Stephen. Just how
- 3:32important has that approach been for
- 3:34this coaching staff?
- 3:35>> That's been super important. Stephen
- 3:37emphasized it from the beginning. He
- 3:38said we he saw the whole change in the
- 3:41coaching staff as a positive because he
- 3:43said we went through adversity before
- 3:45the season even started. So that kind of
- 3:46helped us when we saw a close game or
- 3:48something. We've seen we've seen trouble
- 3:50before. We've seen a couple losses. So
- 3:52that was good for us. And all the
- 3:54coaches just stay positive. Um Ira
- 3:56especially for me, he's been awesome. He
- 3:58tell me stay right, stay ready, and it's
- 4:00what I've been trying to do. So he's
- 4:01he's been a huge help for me for sure.
- 4:05How much better has been for y'all the
- 4:07last few weeks? You as he was talking
- 4:08about coming back from he like a
- 4:10different guy. You see that in practice
- 4:12and in the games?
- 4:13>> For sure. Um gosh, practice last week
- 4:16when I got matched up with Murf on a
- 4:18switch. It was rough trying to go at
- 4:19him. He he got me off the backboard a
- 4:21couple times, but no, he's been he's
- 4:23brought great energy and I don't know
- 4:24what he did over Christmas break, but
- 4:26I'm all for it because he came back a
- 4:28different dude. Um flying around, moving
- 4:31his feet. I think he's got more
- 4:32confidence since he's come back from
- 4:34injury. Um, but yeah, he's been
- 4:35incredible and off the court. He's one
- 4:38of my favorite teammates. He's awesome.
- 4:39Love that dude.
- 4:42>> To see a three go in in the flow of the
- 4:44game. It wasn't like you're up 30 to,
- 4:46you know, get 100 points or whatever,
- 4:47but what did that mean to you that
- 4:49>> I mean, it was awesome. Kind of felt
- 4:51like I was playing normal basketball
- 4:52again, not running around trying not to
- 4:54mess up. So, it felt it felt really
- 4:56good. It was awesome. I've been trying
- 4:57to work on my three balls. So, it's
- 4:59definitely definitely good to see that
- 5:00one go in.
- 5:03>> Sound good?
- 5:04>> All right. Appreciate.