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Postgame Pod: Auburn defeats South Carolina 71-67 · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:07
  Welcome back everybody here to the
• 0:09
  postgame pod at Auburn Undercover.
• 0:11
  Nathan King joined with Patrick Bingham
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  as the Tigers grind out a 71-67 win over
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  South Carolina. Um an ugly offensive
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  performance from everybody pretty much
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  not named Philip Yovic and uh Sebastia
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  Williams Adams in the second half. But
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  Patrick, this is the second straight
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  game now where Auburn's top two scorers
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  did not shoot the ball well. The
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  difference from this one and the
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  Missouri game on Wednesday was you
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  defended a lot better in this game. And
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  Philip Yoich had quite a statement and
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  that's where we'll start. Um we sort of
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  wondered, you know, what kind of player
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  could he become this season? What kind
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  of strides could he take? Um, and I
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  think it's it's been really really
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  impressive to see where how far he's
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  come
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  >> really in just the last five or six
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  games because there was a point in
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  non-conference play where he looked so
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  uncomfortable defensively, really did
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  not look confident with the ball in his
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  hands.
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  >> Confidence was not anything that he
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  lacked tonight when he had the ball in
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  his hands.
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  >> Yeah. I mean, I think each of the last
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  two of these postgame pods, we've done
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  the like, oh, Philip, he keeps playing
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  better. He keeps being more important.
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  He keeps being a bigger factor. you
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  know, he played well against Georgia and
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  then he played well if he, you know, if
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  he had him against&M and this that and
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  the other and it just has progressively
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  gotten better and obviously tonight was
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  the culmination of all of that. Um, I
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  mean, if I had told you Auburn was going
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  to go two from 19 from three and Keshan
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  Murphy or well, Keshan Hall was going to
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  pick up his third foul with like over 10
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  minutes left in the first half. I don't
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  know if I would have picked Auburn and
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  yet uh Philip does what he does tonight.
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  It just again Yeah. from those
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  exhibition games in Bur, you were in
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  Birmingham, I was in Atlanta to like see
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  him and just almost like see there's one
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  point I was like sitting on the sideline
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  like next to the bench and you could
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  just kind of tell there was a little bit
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  of a disconnect of like we are still
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  which granted it's an exhibition game so
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  like there is obviously you're still
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  learning like the whole team is and just
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  to see how far he's progressed all the
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  way to today I mean is really
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  impressive.
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  >> Yeah, we talked to him um this week in
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  in our midweek availability. He talked
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  about his his growth. Um, you know,
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  Steven said postgame, look, the the
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  language barrier is not anything to to
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  ignore here because he said almost it's
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  made Philip focus even more and be even
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  more coachable cuz he said like look,
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  sometimes he's not necessarily
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  understanding everything we're saying. I
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  mean, you know, when we're talking to
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  Philip in media settings, it's like you
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  have to be very clear, English is is far
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  from his first language um coming from
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  overseas. And remember again, I think I
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  said this on the last show, not only
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  that, he was Auburn's last arriving,
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  regardless of where he came from or who
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  he was, he was Auburn's last arriving
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  member of the class. He came here in
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  late June. Um, and so already it was a
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  team that was in flux, having to figure
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  things out after Bruce Pearl retired.
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  And uh, and Yovic obviously has been
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  learning on the fly, but Steven Pearl
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  said there was a point early in the game
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  where he realized South Carolina was not
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  doubling the post, which was a very
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  common thing teams have done,
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  >> particularly against Keshan Hall. they
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  try to make him do those skip passes.
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  South Carolina wasn't doing that. And
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  then Lamont Paris kind of corroborated
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  that by saying, "I don't like to double
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  team guys." And then he said some of his
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  South Carolina players during a timeout
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  were like, "Hey, can we start double
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  teaming Philip Yoic?" I mean, just I
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  mean truly it's it's an SEC game that
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  you put on Yoic's back like, and that's
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  not something I necessarily expected to
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  be saying. Um, but you kind of saw that
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  offensive confidence work for him today.
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  We know he's been he's been improving
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  defensively, but yeah, 23 points for
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  him, nine of 12 from the floor. Uh zero
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  turnovers for him, just a really really
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  clean all-around game where uh and
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  Sebastian stepped up in the second half
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  as well. Uh both of those guys played
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  almost the entire second half with like
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  you said, Keshan Hall, four uh four
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  fouls in this game, but I thought they
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  also did a nice job of late in the game
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  touching and going with with Keshan and
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  uh and Sebastian and Steven credit at
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  Ira Bowman for for doing a good job with
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  that. Yeah, I mean, but it was the
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  freshman tonight, which is just so
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  interesting that they're the ones that
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  really led the way. But, um, that was
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  just the thing is like the three ball
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  just was not working for Auburn all
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  night. Kevin Overton hit the second one
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  with like maybe twoish minutes left,
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  which I kind of thought would seal the
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  game and then South Carolina
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  >> hit one 5 seconds later.
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  >> Yeah. And so it but point being it but
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  you saw so many times like Auburn would
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  shoot a three, they'd get the rebound
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  immediately take it up. There were
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  several dunks in this game and I just
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  think I mean Auburn had 40 something
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  points in the paint. That's how you have
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  to win if you're not going to make any
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  threes but it and it was just like the
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  freshman were so impressive tonight.
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  >> Yeah.
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  >> Yeah. South Carolina tried to I mean
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  they made it a game all the way through.
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  Um I think Auburn was up by nine with
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  about four minutes left and South
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  Carolina just kept shooting the three
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  ball um in the second half. If I can try
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  to find this really quickly. Yeah, South
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  Carolina was six of 13 from deep in the
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  second half. They started four of eight
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  from deep in the second half. Mei
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  Johnson had a couple that were just like
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  >> I mean
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  >> I mean he had one from like where our
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  camera set up.
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  >> Yes. Deep distance. And Stephen said,
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  "Look, we showed them film. He could hit
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  those just from inside half court, but
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  it's it's it's tough to do that." So
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  South Carolina made it a game, but
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  credit to Auburn. You know, free throw
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  shooting has been an issue um for this
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  team, but they go 23 of 30 from the
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  line. Pretty decent. Um but in the
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  second half, they're 14 of 17 at the
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  line. I mentioned Keshan Hall. Not a fun
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  night for him. You can tell that fourth
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  foul he's really frustrated but for him
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  to step up basically those four free
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  throws at the end
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  >> put the game away. The other storyline I
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  think of this game Patrick besides
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  Philip Yovic you know offsetting some of
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  Auburn's offensive struggles was there
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  was a big challenge issued to this team
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  after the game Wednesday Pearl did not
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  like the energy that he saw. I think you
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  saw that corrected very early on. It was
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  it was down here on this end. Todd
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  Pedford forced a stop and Steven like
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  popped off the bench and ran and got
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  right up in his face and was fired up
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  like about them playing high level
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  defense. Um and like you said, you
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  needed to play that way defensively to
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  win a game that was that ended up being
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  a rock fight.
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  >> Yeah. And that's the thing is that there
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  were several blocks down there. I mean
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  they just it again and that's not to say
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  that they just like absolutely weren't
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  trying or anything. Steven actually said
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  that they against Missouri thought they
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  guarded him well and Missouri hit some
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  big shots. But overall, I just think
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  that's especially for a team that's
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  still jelling and is young in some key
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  places. I know there's also some very
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  big veterans on the team just like
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  continuing to come together and to put
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  the effort in. Steven said, I think it
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  was the middle of the week after the
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  Missouri game, he was like, "Look,
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  Auburn had the best team ever for Auburn
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  last year and they couldn't just show up
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  and win. It's going to take bringing it
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  every night, especially in this league
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  when there's such a fine line between
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  I don't know like five and
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  >> probably 12. And it's like pulling off a
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  win like this or pulling off a win
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  against Missouri is going to make the
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  differences.
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  >> Yeah, I mean it's the league is getting
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  to the point now that we've got a decent
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  sample size of it's going to be tough to
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  go out and get a win every single night.
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  Um LSU beat that Missouri team you just
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  lost to. I don't necessarily think
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  anyone thinks LSU is all that good, but
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  they beat Missouri um in Baton Rouge
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  today. Uh Georgia beat they were up 20
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  plus on Arkansas during that game.
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  Kentucky came back on the road. We kind
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  of left Kentucky for dead and now they
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  beat Tennessee on the road. So really
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  you have to bring your agame every
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  single night. Um obviously you'd like to
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  have a better offensive performance, but
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  like you said, two of 19 from three when
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  you score 42 points in the paint and
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  have eight blocks. It's it's almost it's
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  interesting the trends this team is
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  taking because we were so concerned
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  about the size and the interior players
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  and and and we're not we haven't talked
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  about Murf, but Keshan Murphy I thought
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  had a pretty good game. So like all of
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  your front court guys were really solid
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  and and even without Keshan Hall playing
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  a bunch. Uh Tahad Pedford is is the last
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  guy kind of shout out played 33 minutes.
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  Two of eight from the floor is not what
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  you want to see from him but five
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  assists, two blocks. Um only had one
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  turnover and it came really late in the
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  game. That was a performance Stephen
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  Pearl said, "I I'll take that from your
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  from your point guard in this game, a
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  team team high, five assists." Uh,
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  Patrick, now going into next week, it's
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  a challenging stretch coming up
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  regardless of who you'd be playing. But
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  two games on the road in the SEC, it's a
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  quick turnaround to Miss on Tuesday.
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  >> For me, that game is very, very
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  important because if you lose both on
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  games on the road next week, again,
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  winning on the road in the league is
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  hard, but you're now sitting at what,
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  two and three? You'd be two and five in
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  the league. You're
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  >> starting to dig a hole at that Yeah,
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  you're you're digging a hole. I think if
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  you're Auburn right now, you didn't want
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  to drop those early games against
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  Georgia and especially Texas A&M. Now,
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  you're kind of just trying to keep your
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  head above water and see if you can pull
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  off some big wins. Obviously, Florida
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  would constitute as one of those,
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  >> of course. And&&M has turned I mean&m
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  won again tonight against Texas. They
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  they have turned into just that's not a
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  team that where we would have projected
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  them preseason versus where they are
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  now. like they they're a good team and
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  maybe for Georgia as well, but yeah, it
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  miss is one of those where it's like you
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  got to pick off some of the road games
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  and that's one that like that's the one
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  you have to get and so and then you go
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  from there and Auburn hadn't won in
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  Gainesville in a million years in either
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  of our lifetimes but well I think but
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  you know it that's going to be difficult
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  but they they are getable. They're not
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  as lead as they were last year. Granted
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  they I think beat Vanderbilt today so
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  you know that's going to be difficult.
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  >> Yeah. I mean, the the the Gainesville
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  streak is now longer than the Kentucky
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  streak because Auburn went to rup last
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  year. So now Gainesville is the most
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  cursed place you have to you have to
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  play. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned it.
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  Georgia and Texas A&M, those were really
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  tough late results that Auburn wasn't
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  able to get, but like those are turning
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  into pretty darn good teams. Like
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  definitely NCAA tournament teams, but
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  also to your point, you got to get one
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  of these at some point, especially
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  because, and we won't look too far ahead
• 9:38
  here, but you come back and play Texas
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  that next Wednesday here at home. that
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  four game stretch after that is Alabama,
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  Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Arkansas. So,
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  some of the best teams, some of the
• 9:48
  contenders, some of the SC title
• 9:49
  contenders, um, including Tennessee is
• 9:51
  going to be on the road. And so, um,
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  Auburn's got an important week coming
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  up, but of course it's it's important to
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  get back in the win column, which the
• 9:57
  Tigers did tonight against South
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  Carolina. And Philip Yoich was was
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  certainly um, a really good story for
• 10:02
  them in this one. 71-67 for Patrick
• 10:05
  Bingham. I'm Nathan King. Head over to
• 10:07
  Auburn Undercover. Don't do that. Head
• 10:08
  over to Auburn.com.
• 10:10
  Uh, check out all of our junior day
• 10:12
  coverage from Christian Clemente and
• 10:14
  Jason Caldwell. Um, as Alex Golish and
• 10:16
  his staff,
• 10:17
  >> they were here.
• 10:17
  >> They were here. Barrett Gooish got
• 10:19
  probably the loudest I don't know if you
• 10:21
  got that on video.
• 10:22
  >> Yeah. Oh, I didn't get it on video. I
• 10:23
  was up in the stands.
• 10:24
  >> Okay. Barrett Gooish, Alex Golish's son,
• 10:26
  got probably the loudest crowd pop of
• 10:28
  the entire night when he was the
• 10:29
  celebrity uh the celebrity letter
• 10:31
  holder. It wasn't even Alex Golish. Like
• 10:32
  they they they made it. They were like
• 10:34
  >> he walked on way at the end. Everyone
• 10:36
  just already cheered.
• 10:37
  >> Yeah. Yeah. It was a It was a fun night
• 10:39
  for them. So, be sure to head over to
• 10:40
  auburn undercover.com. Of course, the
• 10:42
  transfer portal is also closed and we
• 10:44
  will be uh putting the finishing touches
• 10:45
  on the outgoing players, but Auburn
• 10:48
  continues to add players and so um and
• 10:50
  obviously we'll look we'll look to
• 10:51
  basketball and get ready for two road
• 10:52
  games next week. So, lots going on at
• 10:54
  auburn undercover.com
• 10:56
  and uh we will see you guys over there.
• 10:58
  Appreciate you all tuning in to the
• 10:59
  postgame pod. Talk to you'all soon.