Latest / The Auburn Undercover Podcast / Postgame Pod: Auburn defeats No. 15 Arkansas 95-73

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Postgame Pod: Auburn defeats No. 15 Arkansas 95-73 · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:07
  Welcome on in everybody here to the
• 0:09
  postgame pod at Auburn Undercover.
• 0:11
  Nathan King joined by Patrick Bingham
• 0:13
  after Auburn's 95 to 73. I always forget
• 0:17
  the final score. 95 to 73 win over
• 0:19
  Arkansas. A 22-point victory for the
• 0:22
  Tigers. quite a way for this team to get
• 0:24
  into the SEC when Colin Patrick and
• 0:26
  Steven Pearl put it very well after the
• 0:28
  game saying, "Look, they had to have
• 0:30
  this win. It didn't really matter who it
• 0:32
  was against. It just so happened that
• 0:34
  you beat up on a top 15 team. This is
• 0:37
  analytically your best win of the
• 0:39
  season." And this team, Patrick, really
• 0:41
  could not have gone into an 0 and3 SEC
• 0:44
  hole to start the season. That just
• 0:45
  would have been even more rough than it
• 0:47
  already was. You had a couple
• 0:48
  heartbreaking games early on, but uh
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  really really quality win for this
• 0:53
  Auburn team at a at a really important
• 0:54
  time of the season.
• 0:55
  >> Well, and that's the thing is we were
• 0:57
  talking I guess after the last game of
• 0:59
  like yeah, if you were gaming it out
• 1:01
  before the season, it's like you win
• 1:02
  those first two and then maybe you beat
• 1:03
  like a top 15 ranked Arkansas team and
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  so then you lose the first two and it's
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  like uhoh, what have we gotten ourselves
• 1:08
  into? What are we about to play? And
• 1:10
  naturally, this is the one they're up 30
• 1:12
  in the second half against. Um, but it
• 1:14
  was just an all-around great performance
• 1:17
  the entire second half half. It just
• 1:18
  wasn't in doubt. They continued to just
• 1:20
  kind of continue to push the lead. Um,
• 1:23
  but yeah, I mean overall for me it was I
• 1:25
  mean you scored 95 points which is kind
• 1:27
  of becoming the regular of scoring upper
• 1:29
  80s 90s for this team in play. Um, but
• 1:32
  it for me it was the defense.
• 1:33
  >> Absolutely. Stephen said it. I mean this
• 1:35
  was collectively against a good team
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  their best defensive performance of the
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  season. They've done it, they've looked
• 1:41
  really complete defensively in a lot of
• 1:43
  areas against teams that aren't so good.
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  Um, but this is the first time they've
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  done so against a really quality
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  opponent. Arkansas certainly qualifies
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  as such. Um, number 12 and Ken Pal on
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  offense entering this game. And I mean,
• 1:56
  even if you didn't look at any numbers,
• 1:58
  it's a John Calipari Arkansas team. Like
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  they've got dudes at every position. Um,
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  Darius Akuff, who was the easily their
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  best player. He had 19 points. Um, he he
• 2:06
  could lead the league in scoring this
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  year if Keshan Hall doesn't do it. Um he
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  was fivestar number one point guard in
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  the country. Malik Thomas is a guy who
• 2:11
  visited Auburn a bunch times a
• 2:13
  five-star. They wanted him. Um and and
• 2:15
  just a really complete lineup for this
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  Arkansas team. And Auburn shut him down
• 2:18
  really really well. Arkansas started out
• 2:20
  the game four of eight from deep. Um
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  they finished eight of 21. Only made
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  four threes the rest of the game. And it
• 2:26
  took I don't know if you noticed this,
• 2:27
  Patrick, it took 12 minutes for Arkansas
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  to make their second two-point basket of
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  the game. So hit a hit a few threes
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  early. The game was kind of close, but
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  um Auburn's interior defense was was
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  playing really really well. Um, Keshan
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  Hall on the other end, we mentioned him.
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  He is the story for for Auburn in this
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  one. 32 points. If you see 30 points
• 2:44
  somewhere, we were told that that that
• 2:45
  was an error. They actually gave those
• 2:47
  two technical free throws to Todd
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  Pedford. So, he scored 32 points in this
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  game. He is the first Auburn player to
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  post back-to-back 30point performances
• 2:55
  since Wesley Pson did it in 1994.
• 2:58
  But again, to your point, Patrick, we
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  you asked Stephen Pearl about it after
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  the game. What did he want to talk
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  about? He wanted to talk about how
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  engaged Keshan Hall was defensively
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  because at this point,
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  >> high 20s, low30s scoring, that's just
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  what we've come to expect from Keshan
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  Hall.
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  >> Yeah. And that was just the thing is all
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  night it was the defense. Uh John
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  Calperry, who's a hilarious press
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  conference every time, uh came in and he
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  was like, Yeah, that was the thing is
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  like we just couldn't drive to the lane.
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  To your point about not making that
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  second two,
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  >> which what a huge thing for an opposing
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  coach say after what Auburn has
• 3:31
  struggled with.
• 3:32
  >> Yeah. which it was like hilarious
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  because that's what we've been talking
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  about with the lack of big men's and the
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  injuries and um people being out and he
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  was like the only team that was able to
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  walk cleanly into the paint was when you
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  were playing us tonight and I just I
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  think that was a testament to what
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  Auburn did against this caliber of of an
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  opponent and I know it's early in SEC
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  play but you know Cal Perry said he's
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  like our losses were all to top 10 teams
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  kind of similar to Auburn a little bit
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  in the non-conference and they just did
• 4:00
  that to us.
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  >> Yeah. I mean, and and some of those
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  losses, if I remember properly, I mean,
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  they played they played close games to
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  those teams. That's kind of what
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  Calipari was was insinuating after the
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  game, he's like, you know, we've lost to
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  these good teams like Auburn has and
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  non-con. He was like, we couldn't we
• 4:13
  couldn't keep up like we didn't deserve
• 4:14
  to be on the floor tonight. It was that
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  kind of game for Arkansas um in this
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  one. And obviously a huge huge result
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  for Auburn. Kean Hall leading the way.
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  Auburn shoots 45% from deep. Really
• 4:24
  everything was working. Um you mentioned
• 4:25
  the defense. I mean, I thought
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  rebounding was so important for Auburn
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  in this game as well. Well, they were
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  plus nine on the boards against this
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  team. Uh, Philip Yovic, the fact that he
• 4:33
  was healthy. Look, I know I think some
• 4:35
  of us kind of brushed it off when he was
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  unavailable in the second half against
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  Texas&M.
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  >> I kind of think that might have mattered
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  if you had had him in the second half of
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  the game.
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  >> He's playing at a high level even if
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  it's not showing up at any one area.
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  Seven points, three of three shooting,
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  and four rebounds. Doesn't jump off the
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  page,
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  >> but he is giving you that big man type
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  presence. Remember that he played center
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  um overseas in Serbia. That was the the
• 4:56
  position he played. So he's comfortable
• 4:58
  being right down low. Um and and
• 5:00
  Galipari said it after the after the
• 5:02
  game in his press conference. He said uh
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  he said, "Who's that big who's that big
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  white guy again?" That's what exactly
• 5:07
  what he said. He said, "He killed us all
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  night long." So having Yic mattered and
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  and Keshan Murphy with this first Auburn
• 5:11
  double double. So Auburn's bigs played
• 5:13
  well, too.
• 5:13
  >> Well, that's the like when Murphy was
• 5:15
  out against Georgia late in that game,
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  it was Philip who and you asked the
• 5:18
  question to Stephen and Stephen was
• 5:19
  like, "Well, we had to keep Philip and
• 5:21
  yes, because of the injury, but also he
• 5:22
  was plus five and plus like he was
• 5:24
  playing great." And so I think it's one
• 5:26
  of those things where like it's not
• 5:27
  necessarily going to jump out on the
• 5:28
  stats or the scoring, but he is for as
• 5:32
  much as Auburn has lacked down low and
• 5:34
  in the paint, he's really come to his
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  own now several games into the season.
• 5:38
  >> And I think too there was a point in
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  non-conference, particularly against
• 5:41
  good teams. Now they looked bad against
• 5:43
  Purdue and Arizona and Michigan like a
• 5:45
  lot of teams do, and those games were
• 5:46
  kind of runaway trains. But at times you
• 5:49
  kind of felt like Yoic was almost a
• 5:50
  defensive liability. it just seemed like
• 5:52
  he was really kind of confused on that
• 5:54
  part of the floor, but we knew he was
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  going to be sort of a project player for
• 5:57
  this team who was going to get more
• 5:59
  comfortable as the season went on. Um,
• 6:00
  of course, you know, not only is he
• 6:02
  technically a freshman, um, but he was
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  the latest arrival on this roster and
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  learning the rules of honestly American
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  basketball. You saw the language.
• 6:08
  Exactly. I mean, there's just a lot of
• 6:10
  factors here and you're seeing him get
• 6:11
  more and more confident. Uh, Tahad
• 6:12
  Pedford continues to share the ball
• 6:14
  really well. He had seven assists in
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  this game. Blake Mashalik was actually
• 6:17
  Auburn's backup point guard in this
• 6:19
  game. So that answers the question who
• 6:20
  their number three point guard would be.
• 6:21
  Kaden Magwood didn't go. He was
• 6:23
  unavailable. Steve Pearl, I mean, he's
• 6:24
  he's putting down the hammer when it
• 6:26
  comes to some disciplinary stuff for
• 6:28
  this team. He said, "Look, if you're
• 6:29
  late, you're going to you're going to
• 6:30
  sit out." Um, you know, to Pedifford
• 6:33
  had that same disciplinary stuff and now
• 6:35
  he's back in the starting lineup.
• 6:36
  >> Could you have sat Todd Pedford for an
• 6:38
  entire game? Maybe not. Now, did his We
• 6:41
  don't know if his if his you know what
• 6:43
  his actions warranted that, but Kaden
• 6:44
  Magwood did not play in this game and
• 6:47
  Blake Michol came in. He had a
• 6:48
  three-pointer. He had five points.
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  That's a season high um for him. And so
• 6:51
  again, up and down the lineup, it was
• 6:53
  just a really really great night um for
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  this Auburn team again and on a night
• 6:56
  where they needed to have it.
• 6:57
  >> Well, and for Blake, we saw him earlier
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  in non-conference. But it was just kind
• 7:01
  of one of those things where it's like
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  against bigger teams, is he going to be
• 7:04
  able to like like is he going to be a
• 7:05
  liability on the offensive floor
• 7:08
  >> and then today he hit a huge three and
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  like kind of prove that like okay, yes,
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  you're great on defense, but like we can
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  play you out here. It just kind of gives
• 7:18
  Auburn some more rotation.
• 7:19
  >> Shout out to my lead pastor, Patrick
• 7:21
  Kim. Uh the ghost of Patrick Kim was
• 7:24
  alive and well today when he ripped uh
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  one of my faves.
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  >> I guess Colin Ston years ago in that
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  Alabama game and everybody went crazy.
• 7:31
  Blake Michalik
• 7:42
  had a similar uh had a similar play
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  tonight. Yeah, Patrick. Now, it goes
• 7:45
  into next week where uh you get two
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  games against teams that aren't as
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  explosive offensively, aren't as highly
• 7:50
  rated, but are going to be challenging.
• 7:52
  Uh now, South Carolina, I'm going to
• 7:53
  walk that back. That should not be a
• 7:55
  challenging game here at home on
• 7:56
  Saturday. South Carolina's very bad. You
• 7:57
  should beat them by lots of points on
• 7:59
  your home floor. Uh Missouri's
• 8:01
  interesting. They've got a lot of size.
• 8:02
  They started league play with two really
• 8:04
  good wins. They beat Florida. They beat
• 8:06
  Kentucky on the road.
• 8:07
  >> They lost.
• 8:08
  >> Oh, they lost.
• 8:09
  >> Did they have a what?
• 8:10
  >> Did they have a bad non-conference? Much
• 8:11
  like
• 8:12
  >> they lost to Notre Dame. people kind of
• 8:13
  freaked out, but otherwise they lost to
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  Kansas and they lost to Illinois. So, it
• 8:17
  didn't really it didn't really matter.
• 8:18
  That was the game there people were kind
• 8:19
  of freaking out. So, that's that's a big
• 8:20
  game on Wednesday. So, this team gets a
• 8:23
  little bit more rest
• 8:24
  >> now after that Tuesday to Saturday game.
• 8:26
  You get a little bit more time off and
• 8:28
  uh and Patrick really I mean just from a
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  resume perspective. This was such a big
• 8:31
  win. Uh you now get two quad one wins
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  and we will see how the SEC pans out
• 8:37
  >> this season. And remember, people keep
• 8:39
  comparing this to that Auburn team that
• 8:41
  was a nine seed in the tournament, kind
• 8:42
  of like expectations wise. That team
• 8:44
  only had two quad one wins going into
• 8:45
  the tournament.
• 8:46
  >> Yes,
• 8:46
  >> that was a different SEC. You probably
• 8:49
  need to do a little bit better than
• 8:50
  that. Like this team isn't tournament
• 8:51
  ready at this point. But in terms of a
• 8:53
  stepping stone going into the rest of
• 8:54
  league play, this was a really good good
• 8:56
  win for Auburn.
• 8:57
  >> Yeah. And I think that's just like
• 8:58
  that's going to be the thing with the I
• 8:59
  mean obviously like this was the thing
• 9:00
  for most SEC teams last year. Auburn was
• 9:02
  just incredible, but like every night is
• 9:06
  going to be
• 9:07
  >> I mean, not always down to the wire. I
• 9:09
  mean, technically tonight was not down
• 9:11
  to the wire, but like
• 9:12
  >> it they're all going to be big close
• 9:14
  games and you just have to win the ones
• 9:16
  you can and that's kind of for everyone
• 9:19
  across the board except for maybe the
• 9:21
  top one tier of teams and
• 9:23
  >> which is who like
• 9:24
  >> which we don't even know. So maybe
• 9:25
  there's not one but it's like and that's
• 9:27
  kind of the thing. It's just like you
• 9:28
  have to these next two feel getable, so
• 9:30
  you need to get them and then we can
• 9:32
  just keep going from there.
• 9:33
  >> I thought Arkansas maybe was the best
• 9:34
  team in the league. They started 2 and
• 9:36
  0. Vandy to me is far and away the best
• 9:38
  team right now. I don't know what the
• 9:39
  score is, but Alabama was struggling at
• 9:40
  home with Texas and Florida clearly is
• 9:42
  not as good as we thought they were.
• 9:43
  Tennessee lost a couple games to to good
• 9:45
  teams and so the league is as wide open
• 9:47
  as it's been. I'm not saying Auburn's
• 9:48
  going to contend for the conference, but
• 9:49
  that's a good point by you is like
• 9:51
  Auburn was immune to that last year
• 9:52
  because it's like, okay, yeah, they went
• 9:53
  15 and three, didn't really lose games
• 9:55
  until the very end except for the
• 9:56
  Florida game. they're just beating up on
• 9:58
  everybody um for most of the time
• 10:00
  whereas the rest of the league was
• 10:01
  fighting amongst themselves
• 10:02
  >> and every game matters
• 10:04
  >> correct down the stretch.
• 10:05
  >> Correct. And I think that's what's like
• 10:06
  you to your point that's what's going to
• 10:07
  happen in league play this year. So a
• 10:09
  really really big result for Steven
• 10:10
  Pearl and uh and the Auburn basketball
• 10:12
  team. His first SEC win your stat that
• 10:14
  I'll put in here which was an impressive
• 10:17
  pull by you. Stephen Pearl is the
• 10:18
  fastest Auburn coach ever to get a
• 10:21
  ranked SEC win because it's only his
• 10:23
  third game. He beats out Cliff Ellis.
• 10:25
  correct me if I'm
• 10:26
  >> who was fourth beat a top five Arkansas
• 10:29
  team.
• 10:29
  >> That's crazy.
• 10:30
  >> Yeah, that is crazy. Um, a lot of them
• 10:32
  and honestly a lot of the better Auburn
• 10:34
  coaches were further down in the list
• 10:35
  which I'm like there's something to like
• 10:37
  what Bruce inherited like he was not
• 10:39
  going to do this three games in. And so
• 10:42
  it some of it is not like as comparable
• 10:44
  just straight off the numbers but yes,
• 10:46
  he's the fastest one to do it.
• 10:47
  >> Yeah. And uh Auburn has now beaten
• 10:49
  Arkansas three straight times. It's the
• 10:50
  first time since 2004. That was when
• 10:52
  they got they their third straight win.
• 10:54
  And so first time in 22 years that they
• 10:56
  have beaten this team. Um it's the first
• 10:57
  time in five years that Calipari has
• 10:59
  lost back-to-back games um to Auburn.
• 11:02
  And so uh and so yeah, the team has had
• 11:04
  some success against John Caliperry and
• 11:06
  the and the Razerbacks of late. So
• 11:07
  really, really big result here tonight
• 11:09
  in Neville Arena. Be sure to head over
• 11:10
  to auburn undercover.com, not only for
• 11:13
  continued basketball coverage of this
• 11:14
  one and moving into next week, but as
• 11:16
  you know, the transfer portal for
• 11:17
  football continues raging on. Um it was
• 11:19
  a huge Saturday for for Alex Golish's
• 11:21
  program. Almost said Hugh Fza's program.
• 11:23
  Got to make sure I commit that one to
• 11:24
  memory. It was a uh it was a big big
• 11:26
  Saturday for the football team getting
• 11:28
  some important transfers.
• 11:29
  >> I saw they were up in the I know like
• 11:30
  from where you sit you can't really see.
• 11:32
  He was here with several recruits up in
• 11:34
  section 116.
• 11:35
  >> Yeah. It was also junior day. So there
• 11:38
  were several recruits. They tweeted it
• 11:39
  out.
• 11:39
  >> Yeah. And there's just a billion things
• 11:40
  going on at once if you're a if you're a
• 11:42
  football coach this time of year. But uh
• 11:44
  big win for the Tigers, big win for
• 11:45
  Steven Pearl's program. For Patrick
• 11:47
  Bingham. I'm Nathan King. Head over to
• 11:48
  auburn undercover.com. We'll see youall
• 11:50
  soon.