Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Ole Miss Preview

Transcript

Auburn HC Steven Pearl - Ole Miss Preview · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:00
  Yeah, back on the road. Um, you know,
• 0:03
  against an Old Miss team who has figured
• 0:06
  things out over the last three games.
• 0:08
  You know, two of which on the road. Um,
• 0:11
  you know, very talented roster. Um,
• 0:14
  three, you know, three guys that are
• 0:17
  going to play professionally at some
• 0:18
  some level. Um, with with Dia and Store
• 0:21
  and Cameron, um, all really really
• 0:24
  talented, prolific um, scorers. Um, so,
• 0:28
  you know, defensively we got to be
• 0:30
  really good in this game because they
• 0:32
  have a lot of really good one-on-one
• 0:33
  players. Uh, offensively, you know, we
• 0:35
  got to do a great job executing and, uh,
• 0:37
  sharing the ball. So, uh, great
• 0:40
  opportunity against a team that's, you
• 0:41
  know, ahead of us in the standings. So,
• 0:42
  take any questions.
• 0:44
  >> Questions?
• 0:47
  >> You said you you felt like Miss has
• 0:49
  figured some stuff out. What kind of
• 0:50
  stands out to you about these last few
• 0:52
  games? Because, like you said, they
• 0:53
  picked up a couple pretty impressive
• 0:54
  wins here recently. Yeah, they're just
• 0:56
  they're like, you know, I think if you
• 0:59
  watched early in the year, I think coach
• 1:00
  was looking to get more of an identity
• 1:02
  defensively and I think they've, you
• 1:03
  know, established that a little bit and,
• 1:05
  you know, their two-point defense has
• 1:06
  gotten a lot better. Um, they do a great
• 1:08
  job of just swarming to the basketball
• 1:10
  and creating turnovers um on penetration
• 1:13
  or anytime there's an offensive rebound,
• 1:15
  you know, they do a great job of
• 1:16
  stripping and ripping. Um, you know, I
• 1:19
  think Georgia shot 23 or maybe 32 or 23%
• 1:22
  from two in that game uh off of 21
• 1:25
  offensive rebounds. So, they do they do
• 1:27
  a really good job of just being active
• 1:29
  on all penetration on all rebounds. And,
• 1:32
  you know, I just think they're playing
• 1:33
  harder, you know, defensively. And, um,
• 1:35
  you know, they they have the luxury of
• 1:38
  having three options offensively, you
• 1:40
  know, that they can really feed and go
• 1:42
  to. and they have some really nice, you
• 1:44
  know, accessory pieces that can come out
• 1:46
  there and, you know, make tough shots.
• 1:48
  Um, so I just think they're just getting
• 1:50
  more confident, you know, playing with
• 1:52
  one another. Um, you know, they only
• 1:54
  have, you know, Diaz obviously, um, you
• 1:58
  know, their lone returning starter and
• 1:59
  the rest of the guys are, you know,
• 2:01
  newer pieces. So, kind of like us,
• 2:03
  they're all figuring out how to gel, you
• 2:07
  know, with one another, uh, you know,
• 2:09
  play the game, um, with one another. So,
• 2:12
  I just think they're kind of found they
• 2:14
  found a little bit of that and, you
• 2:16
  know, got some confidence in it and it's
• 2:17
  led to three straight wins against, you
• 2:19
  know, some good teams.
• 2:25
  >> You kind of popped off the bench at
• 2:26
  Tahad early in that game when he forced
• 2:28
  a turnover and we were kind of fired up.
• 2:30
  How much do you look to him defensively?
• 2:32
  I know we talked about his shooting and
• 2:34
  assists and things like that, but
• 2:35
  defensively to kind of set the tone
• 2:37
  early in games, how much do you do you
• 2:39
  look to him? Yeah, I mean, you know, um,
• 2:43
  we did a lot of switching in the South
• 2:44
  Carolina game. We told our guards, you
• 2:46
  know, you got to front the post and if
• 2:47
  you get stuck behind the post, you
• 2:48
  better be physical because we're not
• 2:50
  giving you any help. And, you know,
• 2:52
  Tahad put an arm bar on that kid and,
• 2:55
  you know, forced him out of bounds. So,
• 2:57
  for me as a coach, that got me really,
• 2:59
  really amped up and really fired up and,
• 3:01
  you know, I'm going to I'm going to
• 3:03
  react in that way when when when guys do
• 3:04
  what we ask them to do. So, I was, you
• 3:07
  know, very pleased with it. And I
• 3:08
  thought, you know, just looking at the
• 3:10
  film, you know, in the Missouri game,
• 3:12
  Tahad made 28 defensive mistakes. He
• 3:15
  made eight in the uh South Carolina
• 3:18
  game, cut his mistakes down by 20, which
• 3:20
  is phenomenal. So, need more of that on
• 3:23
  the road. Um because, you know, like you
• 3:25
  kind of mentioned, he's our only
• 3:26
  returner on the defensive end. So, he
• 3:28
  understands what we do more than the
• 3:30
  rest of them. So, when he's out there
• 3:31
  doing the things that we're asking him
• 3:33
  to do, you know, that then makes
• 3:35
  everyone else do the same. So, I thought
• 3:37
  his effort defensively against South
• 3:39
  Carolina was really good.
• 3:44
  >> Cameron's a really interesting guy
• 3:46
  being, you know, played playing Europe
• 3:48
  for a while. 65 point guard. Just kind
• 3:50
  of what stands out about him to you and
• 3:52
  trying to line him up because he's a
• 3:53
  he's a different kind of one that maybe
• 3:55
  y'all have seen here recently.
• 3:57
  >> Yeah, he's not like going to blow by you
• 3:59
  with his speed and his quickness, but he
• 4:01
  can dribble either direction. He does a
• 4:03
  great job of setting up his drives with,
• 4:05
  you know, with moves to kind of either
• 4:07
  get you up in the air or get you moving
• 4:08
  one direction. Does a great job of
• 4:10
  getting you on his hip and then he's
• 4:11
  obviously got tremendous size to be able
• 4:13
  to score over the top of you. And, you
• 4:15
  know, he's um probably he's their most
• 4:17
  willing passer. So, he can score it, you
• 4:19
  know, he can facilitate it. Um, you
• 4:22
  know, he can shoot it. So, he just does
• 4:23
  a little bit of everything. And he plays
• 4:25
  it with such great pace and such great
• 4:27
  tempo. He never gets sped up. And um you
• 4:30
  know that's that's something that you
• 4:31
  know an experienced point guard is going
• 4:34
  to be able to bring to the table. And
• 4:35
  you know they only average 7.6 turnovers
• 4:38
  per game and for him setting the table
• 4:40
  every every possession offensively that
• 4:42
  that speaks to his uh his ability and
• 4:45
  his maturity. So um he uh he does a
• 4:48
  really good job for him and uh you know
• 4:50
  he's such a he's not what you typically
• 4:53
  see in our league, right? you usually
• 4:55
  are so used to seeing these quick, fast,
• 4:57
  athletic point guards that can really
• 4:58
  get downhill and, you know, he does it
• 5:00
  in different ways. So, um, you know,
• 5:03
  we're going to have to do a good job on
• 5:05
  him because he, uh, does a lot of really
• 5:07
  good things for him on the offensive
• 5:08
  end.
• 5:14
  >> Had a great note in his notes about
• 5:15
  Chovic being incredibly efficient
• 5:17
  scorer. We all see it. Is are we at a
• 5:19
  point now in the season where he can
• 5:20
  start being someone you can rely on,
• 5:21
  start running stuff for him? I mean, the
• 5:23
  game he had against South Carolina was
• 5:24
  crazy. Can he be that guy kind of going
• 5:26
  forward? Do you think of him as a score?
• 5:28
  >> Sounds like your notes were a hit. Good
• 5:29
  job.
• 5:29
  >> They were a hit.
• 5:30
  >> It's awesome.
• 5:32
  >> Ted asked me, he said, "Do you think
• 5:33
  they'll read these?" And I said, "I hope
• 5:34
  so." You know, so good. Good job, JG.
• 5:37
  I'm proud of you. Um, yeah, it was
• 5:40
  interesting because, you know, we've
• 5:42
  been doubled a lot in the post this
• 5:44
  year, so it's been really hard to,
• 5:47
  um, you know, feed him in there because
• 5:49
  if they're going to rotate over with two
• 5:50
  610s, you know, he kind of loses his
• 5:52
  advantage. South Carolina went
• 5:54
  one-on-one in the post and he did a
• 5:55
  great job. So, if teams are going to
• 5:56
  continue to play us one-on-one in the
• 5:58
  post or him specifically one-on-one in
• 5:59
  the post, absolutely because you saw how
• 6:01
  physical he was and how he did such a
• 6:03
  good job of using shot fakes and scoring
• 6:05
  on angles. So, yeah. um if if teams are
• 6:07
  going to guard him one-on-one in the
• 6:08
  post, but even if they don't, you know,
• 6:10
  he does a good job passing it, too. So,
• 6:12
  you know, it was really good to see that
• 6:14
  um you know, his ability to score around
• 6:15
  the rim and, you know, do different
• 6:17
  things because, uh it's definitely
• 6:19
  something that, you know, when he's in
• 6:20
  the game, we need to look at because
• 6:22
  he's scoring it at such a high rate
• 6:24
  around the rim. Um you know, he leads
• 6:27
  the SEC in offensive in offensive rating
• 6:29
  since SEC play began. So, you know, we
• 6:31
  got to do, you know, we got to continue
• 6:33
  to feed that because he's playing with a
• 6:35
  lot of confidence right now and it's
• 6:36
  been effective. So, yeah, to answer your
• 6:38
  question, we're definitely going to look
• 6:40
  to get Philip more more touches when he
• 6:42
  gets in the game.
• 6:42
  >> Even trying to three.
• 6:44
  >> Yeah, I hated that three. Um, and here's
• 6:46
  the deal. Like, there's other areas in
• 6:49
  the offense where I want Philip to shoot
• 6:51
  it, you know, but that play
• 6:53
  specifically, and that's I'm glad you
• 6:55
  brought that up cuz Murf has done it a
• 6:57
  couple times this year, too. that play
• 6:58
  specifically. Um that's a bad shot
• 7:01
  because we have no rebounding position,
• 7:04
  you know, in that on that play, our
• 7:05
  three and our four are standing on the
• 7:06
  wings um and they're not there to
• 7:09
  rebound. So for us, the reason why we've
• 7:11
  been such a good offensive rebounding
• 7:12
  team so far this year is when we take
• 7:14
  shots out of our offense, we have
• 7:17
  rebounders in place on purpose to be
• 7:19
  able to bail you out if you miss those
• 7:20
  shots. And anytime we take shots out of
• 7:22
  the offense with no rebounding position,
• 7:24
  that that's what we consider a bad shot
• 7:25
  in our in our offense. And that that was
• 7:27
  a bad shot. Now, you know, we had to
• 7:30
  give him a little grace cuz he was
• 7:31
  playing well. He was feeling it. But,
• 7:33
  you know, Murph had just taken that shot
• 7:35
  and Philip shot it and immediately said,
• 7:36
  "I'm sorry." So, um, you know, he knew
• 7:39
  pretty quickly that I was going to say
• 7:41
  something to him. Um, but yeah, that
• 7:43
  that that wasn't a great shot, but, you
• 7:45
  know, that's something that we want
• 7:46
  Philip to add to his game, you know, as
• 7:48
  he as he continues to grow and mature
• 7:50
  because, you know, he's capable of doing
• 7:52
  of knocking that down.
• 7:54
  >> Off that, besides how Did you feel like
• 7:56
  you guys had pretty good shot selection?
• 7:58
  Didn't force it kind of as much as you
• 8:00
  did against Missouri. It was just a
• 8:01
  matter of them not going down.
• 8:03
  >> Yeah, we had a couple bad ones. You
• 8:05
  know, Tahad had two in the first half
• 8:08
  that we didn't love and he he he
• 8:10
  recognized that right away. KO had one
• 8:12
  in the second half. Um but besides that,
• 8:14
  like, you know, I thought, you know, KO
• 8:17
  had before he the the one that he shot
• 8:19
  in transition before he made it was a
• 8:20
  really good shot. Elijah had a lot of
• 8:22
  really good looks. He had like every
• 8:24
  three he took was like really good and
• 8:26
  clean looks. Um the only the bad one
• 8:28
  Murf had a bad one, Philip had a bad
• 8:30
  one. Tahad had a bad one. KO had a bad
• 8:33
  one, but like 14 of the threes that we
• 8:35
  shot I thought were really clean and
• 8:37
  good looks and those are shots that we
• 8:38
  want our guys to take and and have
• 8:40
  confidence to take. We just didn't knock
• 8:42
  them down. But for us to be able to draw
• 8:44
  on some experience of being able to
• 8:46
  grind out a game like that, that's
• 8:48
  really important because we're going to
• 8:48
  have to do that again at some point this
• 8:50
  year.
• 8:57
  This week you got two road games. What I
• 8:59
  guess is there any different message to
• 9:00
  obviously Arizona's road
• 9:03
  league road game. So any message to them
• 9:06
  in terms of hey remember what you sort
• 9:08
  of been through and take it into this in
• 9:10
  this week or just don't really bring
• 9:12
  that up or how you approach this week.
• 9:14
  >> Yeah, I mean I'm always trying to figure
• 9:16
  out like is there different things that
• 9:18
  we should be doing on the road as
• 9:19
  opposed to at home? Um,
• 9:23
  so that's, yeah, that's something that,
• 9:25
  you know, as a coach, you're always kind
• 9:26
  of trying to figure out. Um, but yeah, I
• 9:29
  think drawn to, you know, in the Georgia
• 9:31
  game, we just didn't defend. We executed
• 9:33
  really well offensively, we didn't
• 9:34
  defend. Missouri, I thought we defended,
• 9:36
  but we didn't execute offensively. So,
• 9:39
  you know, we we got to find a middle
• 9:40
  ground here where we're defending and
• 9:42
  and executing. So, you know, I think if
• 9:46
  we do a good job of just paying
• 9:47
  attention to what we're talking about,
• 9:49
  cuz, you know, they're really talented,
• 9:52
  but I think there's things that we can
• 9:53
  do that, you know, can bother them, and
• 9:55
  we got to do the things necessary that
• 9:57
  they're really good at to not let it
• 9:59
  bother us. So, um, yeah, I don't know.
• 10:02
  It's it's tough because, you know, you
• 10:04
  don't want to change up your routine too
• 10:06
  much, but at the same time, you know, we
• 10:07
  got to find a way to change something on
• 10:09
  the road. So, um, you know, we're kind
• 10:13
  of exploring on, you know, some things
• 10:15
  that we might change up in our
• 10:16
  preparation. Um, but, you know, I think
• 10:19
  for us, more importantly, it's about
• 10:21
  kind of drawing to what we did do well
• 10:23
  and didn't do well in the two previous
• 10:25
  SEC games. And, you know, how we got to
• 10:28
  avoid those things. But, it all starts
• 10:30
  with we just got to be the more excited
• 10:31
  team to play. If we do that, it cleans
• 10:33
  up a lot of the stuff, a lot of the
• 10:34
  silly mistakes that we may have made in
• 10:36
  those two first those first two SEC road
• 10:37
  games.
• 10:39
  What did you see on defense from that
• 10:40
  South Carolina game? You feel like you
• 10:42
  guys can build on, you know, going into
• 10:44
  game against Miss where they have, you
• 10:46
  know, that variety of weapons that they
• 10:47
  do.
• 10:48
  >> Yeah, I thought we just, you know, we
• 10:49
  did a good job. Um, you know, just with
• 10:52
  our switches and um thought our guards
• 10:55
  did a good job of being physical and um
• 10:57
  for the most part, you know, we we
• 10:59
  executed some of the specifics in the
• 11:00
  scouting report that we thought were
• 11:02
  important in that game. Um, but you
• 11:05
  know, we had to show all this all the
• 11:07
  things that we may have when we, you
• 11:09
  know, made mistakes like if we offered
• 11:11
  too much help off of Mei Johnson or you
• 11:14
  know, like Philip had the wrong foot up
• 11:16
  a couple times guarding Mei, letting him
• 11:18
  drive it downhill, right? Like we did
• 11:19
  that like four times. I can't do that,
• 11:21
  you know. So, like different stuff like
• 11:22
  that we got to continue to just kind of
• 11:24
  work on and build off of. But I thought
• 11:25
  our gap presence was really good. um you
• 11:28
  know, I thought they saw, you know,
• 11:30
  bodies um on penetration, which is what
• 11:33
  we really wanted to focus on. So, um
• 11:37
  thought we took a step back a little bit
• 11:38
  on the rebounding side. Uh part of that
• 11:40
  was long shots, long rebounds. Um but we
• 11:43
  got to finish possessions and um you
• 11:46
  know, it it hurts when one of your best
• 11:47
  rebounders wasn't out there for majority
• 11:49
  of the game, but you know, I thought we
• 11:50
  made some strides in our half court
• 11:52
  defense and um did a good job of, you
• 11:54
  know, getting stops when our offense
• 11:56
  wasn't going.
• 11:57
  There's an unrelated question that
• 11:59
  you're focused on this season, but just
• 12:00
  want to get your thoughts on what Dylan
• 12:02
  Cardwell has been doing in the league. I
• 12:04
  mean, undrafted guy and he's sort of
• 12:06
  making his money there doing what he did
• 12:08
  here, you know, energy, defense, things
• 12:10
  like that. Just your thoughts on on what
• 12:12
  he's been doing the past two or three
• 12:13
  weeks. Yeah, we get we get daily updates
• 12:16
  um in our coaches group chat on just
• 12:18
  like what our guys are doing in the pros
• 12:20
  and every night you just see like 24
• 12:22
  minutes, 10 points, like six rebounds,
• 12:26
  two blocks and it's just like I mean
• 12:29
  he's getting 10 or 12 points in the NBA.
• 12:30
  We didn't do a very good job of getting
• 12:32
  Dylan the ball. Um you know if he's
• 12:33
  scoring it like that. So not surprised
• 12:36
  at all like at all. We we all knew
• 12:39
  collectively as a staff that like of
• 12:41
  that whole team last year. And this
• 12:43
  isn't like a knock on anyone on our
• 12:44
  team. Um Dylan was the most fit to be a
• 12:48
  pro just because he was elite at
• 12:50
  something that NBA clubs are always
• 12:52
  looking for. And like NBA teams are
• 12:55
  going to have, you know, two or three
• 12:56
  stars. They're looking for guys that are
• 12:58
  elite in their roles. And Dylan Cardwell
• 13:01
  is elite in his role. He's an elite
• 13:04
  finisher in the in the air. He's an
• 13:07
  elite rebounder and he's one of the best
• 13:08
  defenders I've ever seen. Um so all
• 13:11
  those things combined like he's going to
• 13:13
  be able to play for just about anybody
• 13:15
  at that level because they're always
• 13:17
  looking for bigs that can move their
• 13:18
  feet um block shots and you know catch
• 13:21
  catch one around the rim and finish you
• 13:23
  know off offensive rebounds. So just not
• 13:26
  surprised, proud of them. I think one of
• 13:27
  the the coolest thing about it though is
• 13:29
  like they're embracing Dylan as like who
• 13:31
  he is like in his personality and that's
• 13:33
  something that I think allows Dylan to
• 13:35
  play with such confidence and courage is
• 13:37
  that when he's able to be his true
• 13:39
  authentic self you know he's able to
• 13:42
  kind of do the things that he does on
• 13:43
  the floor so effectively and I think you
• 13:45
  know that community as a whole and that
• 13:47
  organization has embraced it and open
• 13:49
  you know welcomed it with open arms and
• 13:51
  uh you know he's just thriving so really
• 13:54
  proud of him uh really happy for him
• 13:56
  But, you know, not surprised at all
• 13:57
  because we knew how capable Dylan was.
• 14:00
  >> Anything else?
• 14:02
  >> All right.