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South Carolina HC Lamont Paris - Auburn Loss · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  Obviously not the outcome that we
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  wanted.
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  Um, but
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  the big challenge, the biggest challenge
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  that I made to our team was to respond
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  in some ways that really didn't have to
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  do with basketball
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  versus relative to our last game. So, I
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  thought uh we did a good job doing that.
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  um just competing just uh managing bad
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  things that happen during the course of
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  a game which which happens to every
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  team. I just think there were a lot of
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  areas normal areas that I I think some
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  of our older guys particularly should
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  handle better and we did that better
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  today. Um and that's a process of still
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  getting better at some of that stuff and
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  it'll allow us to to to play better
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  ultimately. Um, so you know, it's a hard
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  team to beat in this building. Um,
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  thought we did some good things. Uh,
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  didn't play particularly well. We got
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  the ball around the basket some. I
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  thought the officials did a good job. I
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  will I, you know, probably not too many
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  people say that about the officials, but
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  I thought overall I thought they did a
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  pretty good job. I mean, there's a
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  couple plays here or there um that
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  probably both coaches were mad at, but
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  um, overall I thought it was a hard
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  game. It was a physical game. a lot of
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  driving and attacking and you know when
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  one person's going really hard to the
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  rim and one person has to do one of two
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  things get in the way or get out of the
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  way and so unless you want to give up
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  400 points in a game you have to get in
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  the way and so there were a lot of
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  collisions and a lot of uh a lot of
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  physical play I thought overall I
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  thought they did a pretty good job but
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  um anyway so we're just we're still
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  focusing on getting better
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  >> John
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  >> seemed like the effort and
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  competitiveness was much different today
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  versus Wednesday. Um, how how did that
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  come about?
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  >> Well, that was one of the things that we
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  talked about. I mean, like I said, just
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  a laundry list of some things that
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  really didn't have to do with uh play
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  off of two feet, uh ball fake before you
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  pass, uh finish strong at the rim, use
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  your pump fakes, all these basketball
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  things, those were not basketball
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  things. Uh competitiveness is a huge
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  one. This league is what this league is
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  all about. Um, and so, you know, like I
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  said, I challenged the guys to that. Our
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  whole pregame speech was that, you know,
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  everybody's got this this grand uh plan,
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  master plan before the game about all
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  these X's and O's and like if you don't
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  do those things, then there's what did
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  you even come here for? Um, and that's
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  the way it felt in the Arkansas game at
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  points, particularly once the league got
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  big. But uh but this this this game in
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  the pregame, that's all we talked about
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  was really non-basket things, competing
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  um handling handling adversity in a way
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  that you can very quickly get yourself
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  refocused on exactly what is being said
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  for the next play. The last one's
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  history. Um and so I thought we did a
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  much better job of of that today. front
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  middle here.
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  >> You held
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  to 17 points, one for eight from three.
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  Talk about the defensive effort on those
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  two and then also
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  impact number 38.
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  >> Yeah, you know, it was uh it was well
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  his impact was obvious. Um
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  uh you know it was almost as if you
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  exerted so much energy and getting the
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  two main culprits
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  slowed down that then you know someone
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  had to do something and he seized his
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  opportunity. What a great deal these
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  guys have. this is what their life is as
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  you get these opportunities and you
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  seize one and then and then who knows
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  what that does for you as you move
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  forward in your career and so you know
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  good on him for for doing that but I I
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  do think we didn't compete the way we
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  needed to around the basket like some of
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  those were just we relented I mean so he
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  had a really he had a really big impact
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  we started double in the post once we
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  you know in fact our guys asked for the
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  double which ah they asked if we should
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  double team it and I I you know I am
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  come from the school where
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  I don't want to ask for a double team.
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  Like I we're we're not double teaming
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  any one human but we needed to. So we
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  switched to double team. I thought that
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  was effective for a little bit. Um but
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  uh rough night for the other two guys. I
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  was in foul trouble and um so uh I was
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  glad we did a good job on them. But but
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  certainly um there was there needed to
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  be more work done in our interior uh
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  post post defense. in the middle over
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  here.
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  >> Coach, under 70 points on the road plus
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  15 turnovers against this Auburn team.
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  What did they do defensively that kind
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  of limited you guys in getting in a flow
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  on offense?
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  >> They switch everything. So, you know,
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  some of the some of the uh some of the
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  uh actions are
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  not as effective. Um, and then when that
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  happens,
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  your natural instinct as a young player
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  is to uh be stagnant versus moving and
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  moving more is exactly what you need to
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  do. Um, so I I think that was part of
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  it. Then then we got some matchups that
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  we liked. We attacked uh off the
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  dribble. We didn't finish well around
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  the basket. Um, I don't know what the
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  numbers say specifically, but my
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  eyeballs in a couple of key situations
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  that I thought we could have got
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  something done down there. We we uh we
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  made a good decision in getting down
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  there and then weren't able to. Again,
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  it was physical. There was physical.
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  There was, you know, they called some
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  fouls. There were some other plays I
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  thought were physical. I mean, they they
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  they play a physical brand of defense
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  that way. So, we just didn't have as
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  much success driving and finishing
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  around the basket and creating some
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  shots off of uh the three and posting
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  up. That was the other thing that I
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  would have liked to done a little bit
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  more just if they're going to switch
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  some of those things. Get the ball
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  inside. We tried here and there to
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  varying levels of success. So, um, but
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  they switched a lot of things and they
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  with with athletes and and so, you know,
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  slows you down a little bit, but some of
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  our turnovers were just decisions like
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  and just not strong with the ball. It
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  wasn't some sort of surprise trap or a
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  couple times just a just a decision that
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  we made that was pretty straightforward
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  decision that we made poorly. Anything
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  else for coach John?
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  >> A little less than five minutes left.
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  They took their first double digit lead
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  on on the transition dunk in the pick
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  six that that you call it. Y'all y'all
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  bounced right back there to make it
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  competitive again. What what um who who
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  was kind of spearheading that for you
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  guys and and not letting this the game
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  get out of control like it has before?
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  >> Yeah, we I mean we had a we we we showed
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  more much more poise in those
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  situations. That was one of the things
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  that was on the board. Didn't have
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  anything to do with basketball of all
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  the things to handle. One was uh just a
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  a burst, a run that another team makes
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  and then you have to handle that and
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  what are you going to do? Um how are you
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  going to respond to that? And it did
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  look there was one point we took a
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  questionable shot or something happened.
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  I think it was a questionable shot or we
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  turned it over. It was about to be a
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  turnover and then we got the ball back.
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  And I thought that was key because if
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  you don't then it runs out. Then it is
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  then it does. It's hard for those guys
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  at that point to say, "Okay, we're still
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  right here." Um whereas we got that ball
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  back. I think we ended up scoring on
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  that one and it just settled some things
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  down. But um you know um Mei's voice was
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  really good. I heard some other guys
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  talking too saying some more. We talked
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  about encouragement of one another and
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  and the different ways that you can
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  encourage someone and you can encourage
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  someone in in a pretty aggressive way if
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  they need it sometimes, too. And so I
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  did feel like there was more of that.
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  Our huddles were better. I said we got
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  destroyed in the Arkansas game on the
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  huddle situations. I mean, we were just
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  on our own island. And you know, these
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  guys guys in this day and age, they're
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  not selfish,
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  but everything in their lives has
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  revolved around them. They are
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  self-centered in the in in a in a the
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  most
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  realistic actual way that's not selfish,
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  but they are used to everything being
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  revolving around them. And so when they
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  do anything, the first, second, and
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  third thing they're thinking about is
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  themselves and how it affects them and
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  then how it's going to affect the next
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  thing that they're going to do. And so
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  getting out of that and changing some of
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  that, I think, is uh is important for
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  us. And so I thought there were some
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  real strides made on that. But we had a
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  lot of guys saying some stuff, but Mei
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  certainly was uh was a very calming
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  voice uh with his teammates.
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  >> Appreciate it, coach. Thanks.