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Postgame Pod: Auburn defeats Mississippi 79-61 · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

• 0:07
  Hey, welcome on in everybody here to the
• 0:08
  postgame pod at Auburn Undercover.
• 0:10
  Nathan King here joined by Patrick
• 0:12
  Bingham here under Bridgestone Arena. A
• 0:15
  couple hours removed here from the
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  Auburn Tigers opening round win over
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  Mississippi State to 61. This was a game
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  of course Patrick the Tigers absolutely
• 0:25
  had to have. Um but it was one that got
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  a little shaky. Auburn was down by 10 uh
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  just a few minutes before halftime, but
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  I think the energy, I don't know if you
• 0:34
  really noticed this, like not getting
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  spooked by that and and everybody
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  staying very engaged at that point. Um
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  and obviously the immediate response
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  Auburn had um is is probably the reason
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  why they're still playing because it
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  opened the door to a a second half where
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  really Auburn just rolled after halftime
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  and was the much better team.
• 0:51
  >> Yeah, we talk about like the middle
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  eight in football. I don't know how that
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  would math out the basketball, but it
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  really was like that middle right before
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  halftime, right after halftime for
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  Auburn. Um, of course, Mississippi State
• 1:01
  coming out of the half did bang a few
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  shots in, but then Auburn immediately
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  kind of eliminated everything they just
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  did and then just took off from there. I
• 1:08
  think that's what Chris Jan said in his
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  postgame. He thought the turning point
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  was was going right into the locker
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  room. Auburn being able to make that run
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  um and not let like Josh Hubard or the
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  um Bulldogs make a shot going into the
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  half.
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  Yeah, it was a 70 run for them right
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  before halftime. 70 run for Auburn. You
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  can extend that out a lot into the
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  second half. It was a 21-2 run for
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  Auburn um after halftime and that sort
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  of gave them the lead and look they they
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  were in a very similar position as
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  compared to the end of the Mississippi
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  State game the first time around.
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  Remember that game they were up by seven
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  with four minutes left. This game they
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  were up by eight with four minutes left,
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  but this time they were able to hang on
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  to it. Uh Kevin Overton was so crucial
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  in this game for it just felt like
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  anytime Mississippi State had any
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  semblance of life to maybe get back into
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  it. He just kept pushing Auburn ahead.
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  He makes six three-pointers in this
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  game. I believe five of them came um in
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  the second half and then Keshan Murphy
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  against his former team. This this had
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  to be sweet um for him. Of course it
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  was. He talked about, you know, how big
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  how big of a game this was. And it was a
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  it was a wide range of emotions for him
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  because he scores first seven points of
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  the game, but then picks up two very
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  silly fouls. only plays 5 minutes there
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  in the first half, but he was extremely
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  impactful for them. In the second half,
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  Mississippi State really didn't have
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  anybody that could hang with him on the
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  inside.
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  >> That's the thing. Walking into the
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  locker room, they were still kind of
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  talking amongst each others and um Ira
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  Bowman had was talking to Keshan Murphy
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  who was like right by the entrance and
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  he was like, "Dude, you were about to go
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  crazy and then you had that technical
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  foul and I think that was kind of the
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  feeling."
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  >> That's right. You know, 83 from Keshan
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  Murphy. But um I I think that's the
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  thing is that you really saw it when he
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  was out in that first half how
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  Mississippi State was able to take
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  advantage. They were dominating the
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  rebounds. They were dominating the
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  points in the paint. He comes in against
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  his former team in the second half and
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  provides just a big difference for
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  Auburn.
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  >> I believe Mississippi State was plus 12
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  on the boards at halftime. Um and that
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  that flipped dramatically. I mean look
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  no further than the fact that the box
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  score is insane. I mean only 21 minutes
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  for Keshan Murphy but he's a plus 28 in
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  the game. And then on the flip side,
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  Philip Yoic is is minus 13 in this game.
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  So that really showed the difference
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  between those guys on the interior. Um
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  and Steve Pearl talked about, you know,
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  Todd Pedford played a good second half.
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  I mean, really, it was it was kind of an
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  all-around effort in this one. Really
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  the only one I don't remember having a
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  lot of impact other than that three down
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  the stretch. I'll take that back cuz
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  Keshan Hall hit a big three there when
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  they had a four-on-one fast break. Uh
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  Blake Mollik had I thought some of his
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  best minutes in the first half of SEC
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  play. It's the most points he scored in
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  in two months. Um really good defensive
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  work against Josh Hubard. a lot of his
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  teammates credit him for that. But, uh,
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  Patrick, in in less than 24 hours from
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  this, um, it kind of all comes down to
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  this one. Now, this was, when you looked
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  at, you know, the runway for Auburn here
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  in Nashville, this was the you cannot
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  lose this or we will stop talking about
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  you entirely. Like, this is like you
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  have to have this one. You have to make
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  amends for the loss earlier and you
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  can't lose another, you know, quad 2
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  game. They did that. now they are on,
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  you know, maybe even playing ground with
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  some other teams in the bubble of you
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  need to go get a big win and they have
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  that opportunity set out in front of
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  them. It's Tennessee tomorrow
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  approximately 2:00 Central time
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  depending on when the first game ends um
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  against the Volunteers. It's a game that
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  they lost in Knoxville. It was actually
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  a pretty close game um throughout that
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  that Auburn was competitive in and I
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  mean it really does just come down to
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  this one and Patrick and and and you
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  know some guys talk in the locker room
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  about you know this is this is a team
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  that already had you know has a good
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  resume has some quality wins um this
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  season but has known they they've taken
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  way too many losses of late and now they
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  have an opportunity to to get one back.
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  >> Yeah. And they said that in words I
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  won't say on here, but um yeah, I think
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  that's the thing is it almost just
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  mirrors for me what we just did this
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  past week of like LSU was the you have
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  to win this or we're done. Alabama is
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  your chance to go put yourself Yeah. to
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  go to the tournament. Same thing again.
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  Um and I I Yeah, it just it kind of all
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  comes down to tomorrow. We've seen a lot
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  of other bubble teams lose in their
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  conference tournaments and lose early or
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  to bad opponents, but this is your this
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  is how you kind of make amends for that
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  quad 3 miss and you can get the quad one
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  here. There's just like so many
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  different levels of like how important
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  >> tomorrow is for the future of Auburn
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  season.
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  >> Yeah, I mean it's it's it's it feels
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  like it's it. I mean maybe there is an
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  opportunity. I personally don't think
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  nobody nobody really thinks that Auburn
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  would be
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  >> and they're certainly not operating that
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  way mentally,
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  >> right? And Auburn definitely is. I mean,
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  they they they can stand up there and
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  talk about like Steam Pearl did after
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  the Alabama game like some players
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  today. They can talk about how hard
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  their schedule has been and how many
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  good wins they have, but they know that
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  they got to go get one tomorrow. Um and
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  and and really, I mean, it it was a good
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  start. It was it was not like this game,
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  you know, they looked rocky. Like they
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  had some things they worked through,
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  ended up getting a double digit margin
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  of victory. I thought that second half
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  was
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  >> one of the best halves of basketball.
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  >> Didn't they win the half by almost 20
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  points or was it Mississippi State? And
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  Steam Pearl said after the game, this
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  was the best defense they've played in a
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  long time. Now Tennessee is a different
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  animal. It's a front court matchup now
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  as opposed to, you know, obviously this
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  game was all about limiting Josh Hubard
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  whose name we have not really even
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  talked about on this and that's really
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  good that we didn't um he gets his
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  points and he scored 22 but goes two of
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  eight from three and it's like and steam
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  pro after the game he's like you know
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  when he doesn't have eight more threes
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  than that it it becomes a lot easier to
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  win a basketball game
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  >> tomorrow against Tennessee's front court
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  you know that's a game that you lost
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  that first match up you lost the
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  rebounding battle by 16 in that one and
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  so guys like Keshan Murphy who had a
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  good game today Elish Freeman had 10
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  rebounds today they've got to go out
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  there and do it and Steve Pearl said
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  after the game you that's going test
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  their manhood. It's going to test their
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  toughness. It's one they've got to have
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  a different level of toughness. And
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  obviously, they've got to have that if
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  they want to go dancing and they want to
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  go to March Madness. So,
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  >> we shall see. We will be here in uh in
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  back in Bridgestone Arena at auburn
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  undercover.com for the Tigers and the
• 6:29
  number five seed volunteers for Patrick
• 6:31
  Bingham. I'm Nathan King. Head over to
• 6:32
  auburnover.com. We're going to continue
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  to have coverage of this one. Um good
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  stuff from from Patrick's videos in the
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  locker room and obviously getting to
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  talk to everybody here today and we'll
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  roll right on into the game against
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  Tennessee tomorrow. So, we'll see you
• 6:43
  guys over at auburn undercover.com.