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Postgame Pod: Auburn defeats LSU 88-74 · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:07
  Hey, welcome back everybody into the
• 0:09
  postgame pod here at Auburn Undercover.
• 0:12
  Nathan King joined by Patrick Bingham
• 0:13
  here inside of Neville Arena where
• 0:16
  Auburn gets back into the win column and
• 0:18
  avoids what would have been a second
• 0:20
  straight devastating crushing loss. And
• 0:24
  uh this this Tigers team, their their
• 0:26
  tournament hopes are hanging on by a
• 0:28
  thread right now, if they're even
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  hanging on at all. We don't, you know,
• 0:30
  we we'll see what what to make of this
• 0:32
  team on selection Sunday. But to even
• 0:35
  have that conversation, period, you had
• 0:36
  to win this game tonight against LSU.
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  Auburn does just that against a bad LSU
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  team, 88 to 74. This was a game that
• 0:44
  started and ended pretty much with
• 0:45
  Auburn's starting back court. Uh Kevin
• 0:47
  Overton and Tahad Pedford combined for
• 0:49
  48 points in this game. I thought this
• 0:51
  was one of most one of Todd Pedford's
• 0:53
  most in control yes games of the season
• 0:56
  and Patrick it played into his hands
• 0:58
  because LSU was so sloppy with the ball.
• 1:01
  Um they had 11 turnovers in the first
• 1:02
  half over 11 turnovers in the first half
• 1:04
  alone. Auburn had 13 steals in the game.
• 1:07
  For a guy like Pedford, we've seen Todd
• 1:09
  play at his best. It's getting up and
• 1:11
  down the floor quickly and LSU's
• 1:13
  turnover problems really played into
• 1:14
  that tonight.
• 1:15
  >> Yeah, I think Pedford had multiple
• 1:16
  steals in the first half. Had a Yeah.
• 1:19
  drive a big dunk and yeah, just overall
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  it it was his night. I mean, Kevin
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  Overton also was pretty great, but you
• 1:27
  could just tell Tahad was in control of
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  the offense. He felt comfortable and it
• 1:31
  was almost like once he started getting
• 1:32
  those first few steals early, like it
• 1:34
  like not like re-encouraged him, but
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  kind of fired him up to like be even
• 1:38
  more aggressive on defense. And I mean,
• 1:40
  Steven said that was what he was most
• 1:41
  impressed with with Nod and Kevin was
• 1:44
  not the 40 plus points they combined
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  for, but the defense. No surprise there
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  with what we've come to expect from from
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  Steven Pearl. Yeah, I mean this look,
• 1:51
  this was a bit of a slog early on. Um I
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  think LSU LSU led for technically the
• 1:56
  majority of the first half. I think
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  there's only like a 40 second difference
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  between the time LSU led, but it felt
• 2:00
  like LSU was ahead for most of um the
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  first half.
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  >> I think their biggest lead was only
• 2:05
  four.
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  >> Yeah, it was it just kind of and they
• 2:07
  shot at a really high percentage early
• 2:09
  on. Um they they started the game seven
• 2:11
  of 10 from the floor. They were above
• 2:13
  60% for the majority of the first half.
• 2:15
  LSU was, but those turnovers, they just
• 2:17
  could get out of their own way. If they
• 2:18
  hadn't had those turnovers, Auburn
• 2:19
  probably would have been in an even
• 2:21
  bigger hole. But to your point about,
• 2:22
  you know, the the the the energy on
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  defense, it felt like when Auburn
• 2:26
  settled in there, everything kind of
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  fell into place. Look, this was a game
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  you you had to win for a reason. LSU is
• 2:32
  not very good. Um that their two best
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  players have been out most of the season
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  due to injury, but their best player
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  since then is Max McKinnon, who I
• 2:40
  thought Auburn did a really good job on.
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  Um he only had three points in this game
• 2:44
  in this game. He hit his first three at
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  transition. Robin just lost him and he
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  hits a three. Um misses his next five.
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  So he's just one of six from the floor
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  with two turnovers and three fouls.
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  Steven Pearl said after the game and he
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  said this week leading up to it, he was
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  like, "It would be nice if we could stop
• 2:56
  someone's best scoreer, like take their
• 2:58
  best guard and and and and take him out
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  of the game." For one reason or another,
• 3:02
  Auburn was able to do that against LSU.
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  And it was just clear this LSU team
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  doesn't have much uh much firepower. But
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  regardless of who the opponent was here
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  today, Patrick, it could have been it
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  could have been Bthoon Cookman again.
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  Like,
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  >> yeah,
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  >> that game was close.
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  >> That game was close. It could have been
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  any opponent. You you you had to have
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  this one after just the the the abject
• 3:22
  disaster that was Saturday against Miss.
• 3:24
  >> Yeah, wins a win's a win, which is true
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  of basically any game from here on out
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  and just true of March in general. But I
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  Yeah, it maybe you could call it a
• 3:32
  get-right game. I'd be curious to know
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  from your opinion how much of like Dahod
• 3:36
  shooting better or the defense. I think
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  like plays was oh like LSU is just not a
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  very good team like you're just able to
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  take advantage of that versus like maybe
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  they are maybe that will maybe the miss
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  game finally kind of was able for them
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  to turn a corner.
• 3:50
  >> Yeah. I mean Todd said it after the game
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  and and this is kind of echoing what a
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  lot of players have talked about all
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  season. He said you know we we know how
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  to guard like we we know what this
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  system is. Um they've done it at a high
• 4:00
  level. Again that's just the the
• 4:02
  maddening frustrating thing about this
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  team over the course of this season. and
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  really for the most part in the month of
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  February is that you've seen them have
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  such high highs and obviously with with
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  losses in seven of of eight games they
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  they come crashing down to a bunch of
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  low lows and so yeah I mean it's it's
• 4:18
  it's tough to really say um you know I
• 4:20
  think in especially in college
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  basketball in the month of March the
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  best thing is to be playing with
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  momentum and so I like Steven Pearl said
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  like all they can worry about right now
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  is their current result their current 40
• 4:31
  minutes um and so you know check check
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  the box for this one really um I think
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  defensive ly. This is a tough one for me
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  because like LSU when they didn't turn
• 4:41
  it over, they still shoot 55% from the
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  floor. Now, Auburn scout and and Stephen
• 4:46
  said, you know, Auburn Scout and and
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  LSU's personnel lent itself to for
• 4:49
  Auburn to think that they could get into
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  passing lanes more often and shut them
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  down in that way. So, 74 points is 74
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  points like that's going to get um the
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  job done. It's a it's a completely
• 4:58
  different beast um at Alabama, I guess,
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  as we'll kind of transition into talking
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  about that one. Um anything can happen
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  in that game. It's number one, it's
• 5:06
  March. It doesn't anything can happen in
• 5:08
  March. True. Um, you know, to say
• 5:10
  Auburn, you know, I think you can say
• 5:13
  both at the same time. You can say
• 5:14
  number one, this is a huge opportunity
• 5:17
  for them. It would be a huge upset
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  >> and and they're going to be a
• 5:20
  significant underdog, but at the same
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  time, you can't sit here and think that
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  it would be surprising if Auburn goes
• 5:24
  there and plays well and has a chance to
• 5:26
  win that game. It's just the nature of
• 5:28
  the rivalry. We've seen that even in,
• 5:30
  you know, Auburn won last year there in
• 5:32
  the big one-two game, but even in the
• 5:34
  years before that when they didn't win,
• 5:36
  they had, I mean, huge leads. The team
• 5:38
  that was the nine seed and went to
• 5:39
  Birmingham had this like 18 point lead
• 5:41
  or something crazy, ended up losing. But
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  yeah, I just I wouldn't be like
• 5:45
  surprised if this team like came out on
• 5:47
  fire in the big rivalry game on the road
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  with nothing to lose, but it's doing all
• 5:52
  the little things so that you can
• 5:53
  actually pull off a win like that. Um,
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  but I think you are in a point where
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  it's like to some extent you do have
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  nothing to lose from that game. Like
• 6:00
  you're not expected to win, but also you
• 6:02
  know what a win could do for you. It
• 6:04
  could potentially launch you back into
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  the field. That's a really interesting
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  you point and I think the framing of
• 6:09
  this game is going to be so interesting
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  because you're right, this is, you know,
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  Auburn does have a tournament birth to
• 6:15
  lose, but to your point that's not
• 6:18
  hinging on this game. Like this game is
• 6:21
  gravy. This this game you can only gain
• 6:24
  from going to Alabama
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  >> because you're not unless you just get
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  blown out of the doors like you're not
• 6:28
  going to get punished.
• 6:29
  >> No, I mean no no one's expecting
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  Alabama's the second best team in the
• 6:31
  league. They're probably going to lock
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  >> They did lose tonight.
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  >> They lost that Georgia. Probably going
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  to lock up the the two seed. I saw it.
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  It's it's pretty likely um that they'll
• 6:38
  be the second team in the SC behind
• 6:40
  Florida. Going there on the road again.
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  No one's really going to blame me for
• 6:43
  that one. Auburn's already had so many
• 6:45
  quad one games. But the the flip side of
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  it is like to your point, the flip side
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  is what if you win? What if you go there
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  and win? Um, and as as we'll kind of
• 6:53
  talk about the tournament outlook now,
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  in my opinion, and I think that's
• 6:56
  probably the case. If you win at
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  Alabama, I think you're in I think that
• 7:00
  >> that offsets the old I think a quad one
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  road win kind of is the is the other
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  side of the spectrum from a from a quad
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  three home loss. I would argue a quad
• 7:09
  three home loss is actually a little
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  worse than a quad one road win is,
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  especially because Auburn already has a
• 7:13
  couple of those away from home this
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  season. But I think you're in because
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  because the field is so weak, because
• 7:17
  the bubble's so weak this this uh
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  season. I will say and I'll be I'm going
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  to write a story later this week looking
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  at other bubble teams again. Like I
• 7:25
  wonder how much of this conversation
• 7:27
  that we're having down the stretch this
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  season might depend on people that
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  aren't Auburn because if you just do
• 7:32
  >> if you just do maybe the bare minimum
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  where it's like obviously you got the
• 7:35
  win tonight, you lose at Alabama, maybe
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  you pluck one in Nashville before going
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  home
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  >> at at that point it actually might be in
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  other people's hands because you saw TCU
• 7:43
  go on the road at Texas Tech and get a
• 7:45
  win. That was not good for Auburn. Satan
• 7:47
  Hall getting a win today. That was not
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  good for Auburn. Texas A&M getting a big
• 7:51
  win over Kentucky. That was not good for
• 7:52
  Auburn. these other bubble teams. I do
• 7:55
  wonder if it actually will be the people
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  around Auburn. But at the end of the
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  day, Patrick, again, all this team can
• 8:00
  do is is take care of the game that's in
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  front of them. And here on senior night
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  here in front of uh you look as good of
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  a crowd as you could ask for for a 9:00
• 8:08
  tip off, which I'm glad Stephen Pearl uh
• 8:10
  shared in all of our disdain for uh
• 8:13
  that, you know, nightmare of a of a
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  decision by the SEC to have a 9:00 tip
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  off.
• 8:17
  >> It is now tomorrow. Correct.
• 8:18
  >> It is tomorrow. It is. It is now
• 8:20
  >> which is today.
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  >> It is now the uh the next day. And so
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  there's a good reason for it. Actually,
• 8:23
  somebody brought this up. The SEC
• 8:25
  women's tournament starts Wednesday. So
• 8:27
  like there there's only one game in the
• 8:29
  men's. It's Texas and somebody think
• 8:32
  Texas.
• 8:33
  >> So they had to stagger all of them.
• 8:34
  >> I was going to say Texas and Oklahoma. I
• 8:36
  think it's Texas and Arkansas. No. Yeah,
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  they had to just push all of them on to
• 8:39
  Tuesday to to make way for the women's
• 8:41
  tournament on on Wednesday. Even still,
• 8:42
  you should never have a game tip at at
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  9:00 Central time. Especially after you
• 8:46
  had a game tip at 5:00 Central time.
• 8:49
  It's like, guys, we got to find a happy
• 8:50
  medium here. we cannot be having these
• 8:52
  extremes regardless of of where it was
• 8:54
  played and who it was played against.
• 8:55
  Auburn absolutely had to have a win here
• 8:58
  on Tuesday. They beat LSU 88-74.
• 9:01
  And next up is the regular season
• 9:03
  finale. A big one as usual in the Iron
• 9:05
  Bowl. Always is uh 7:30 Central time.
• 9:09
  Patrick and I will be in Tuscaloosa. So,
• 9:11
  we will catch you guys there and have a
• 9:12
  postgame pod for whatever happens.
• 9:14
  Surely it will be a crazy game. Those
• 9:16
  games usually are in uh in Coleman
• 9:17
  Coliseum. So keep it locked at
• 9:18
  auburn.com as we move here to the end of
• 9:21
  the regular season and into the SEC
• 9:23
  tournament next week in Nashville. And
• 9:25
  what lies beyond in the postseason for
• 9:27
  Auburn, we will see. For Patrick
• 9:28
  Bingham, I'm Nathan King. Thank you guys
• 9:30
  so much for joining us here on the
• 9:31
  postgame pod. We'll talk to you'all
• 9:33
  soon.