Vs MSU Postgame W[98-92]

[Charhair 345]

Still needing to get better at closing the games. Johnson seemed like he was doing just that but he also seemed to rush it a little much towards the end and caused a few unnecessary turnovers. We haven't seen much pressing from other teams and tonight's bad attempts to break it probably had to do with the fact that it came during a mid wake up slap in the face from msu turning it into a two possession game. We attempted to break the press with the same attitude/enthusiasm that we played with and we needed better. 

I think a lot of that still has to do with the fact that our go to ball handlers at either freshmen or RJ/TJD who can both be a bit of a wild card at times. We have no veteran that we can give the ball to and know exactly what to expect come late in a close game (see Sindarius Thornwell tonight for example). 

A good outing though even though we didn't (again) finish as well as we hoped for. The fact that we kept it a 15-20pt margin for a majority of the game says a lot. We held that lead longer than we usually do, imo.

all in all:

 

[cole256 17,039]

Smh at this thread....good win, learning on the fly while winning

[FoundationEagle 637]

6 hours ago, CameronCrazy said:

This team does not get another "a win is a win" or "this is what to expect with freshman" from me

MSU MADE A 26 POINT COMEBACK AGAINST TENNESSEE A FEW DAYS AGO

Why in the world is Harper & Johnson not in the game at the same time in that situation?!

YOU WANT THE TWO SHORTEST GUYS ON THE TEAM ON THE COURT AT THE SAME TIME WHEN A JUMP BALL MAY BE REQUIRED TO GET THE PASS IN?

Why in the world did we wait until they got within 6 to finally start putting pressure on the ball handler 

THIS IS A HEADSCRATCHER.  BRUCE DOESNT SEEM TO BE ABLE TO GET THE GUYS BACK ON TRACK VERY QUICKLE ONCE THE WHEELS START COMING OFF.  THAT SAID, HE GOT THEM TO DO IT WELL ENOUGH TO CLOSE OUT WITH A WIN.  THAT IS IMPROVEMENT FROM A FEW WEEKS AGO AND ILL TAKE IT!

 

[WarTiger 3,896]

I never complain about the officiating because I know how hard it is to do.  I've officiated basketball for 25 years.   A good crew will control the game but not take it over.  The way that game ended was a very poor showing by that crew.   However, I noticed something early on in the game and watched it continue for the entire game.  The only black official on the floor clearly wanted everybody to know he was out there and he did so by basically taking over everything.   When the official in the center position (officials are lead (baseline official), center (Free throw line extended) and trail (division line/backcourt) called the double foul on Lang and the msu player, the black official was as trail and he stepped in duplicated the call and totally took over reporting it and everything.  Every time there was a stoppage the black official was involved in it and always went to the table (which was often unnecessary)   This just doesn't have the markings of a good crew when one official basically takes over the game the way he did last night.   That's not how its supposed to be.   A great crew is one you don't notice and he clearly wanted to be noticed all night.   He totally ruined the game last night and I'm hoping the coordinator of officials will solve that in a hurry.   The last 3-4 minutes (mostly last 2) were totally inexcusable the way it was called.

I think all most fans want is consistency and we didn't have that last night at all, unless consistently interfering in the flow of the game counts.  It was just bad all the way around in the last 3-4 minutes.   Frankly, it was embarrassing as a fellow official to have to watch that last night.

[AUTigersfan89 256]

On a positive note, at least we didn't completely blow the 20 point lead against them like UT did.

[JFDTiger80 790]

We gotta learn to finish games; then we will be killing people. That was a big game for this young team. They all are right now if we have any post season hopes. It is great to see us with a winning record. I see us getting better but the kids still need a lot of coaching. We are so streaky. I hope we can end up with a winning record in the SEC and have over 21 wins during the regular season. War Eagle! 

[jared52 4,354]

@WarTiger, to your point, I thought it was very strange that he called the tech on MSU's bench from as far away as he did. I don't know what was said but he looked like he really just needed any excuse to T them up. I don't know if the breaks in flow that he caused helped AU or MSU more but the last 2 min took 20 min or more. Now, I thought that the fouls were the right calls late, because AU was very sloppy on defense. But it was like the refs were getting paid by the hour last night. 

[Jgarrett7 957]

7 minutes ago, jared52 said:

@WarTiger, to your point, I thought it was very strange that he called the tech on MSU's bench from as far away as he did. I don't know what was said but he looked like he really just needed any excuse to T them up. I don't know if the breaks in flow that he caused helped AU or MSU more but the last 2 min took 20 min or more. Now, I thought that the fouls were the right calls late, because AU was very sloppy on defense. But it was like the refs were getting paid by the hour last night. 

That T he called late was on a player leaving the floor who was still on the Auburn end when he said whatever be did to get the T. 

[Guest AUGrad94]

Good grief you guys can't appreciate a win. MSU has been doing this to teams all year at the end of the game. We are 16-8! Our coaches are very good at their jobs.

[autigersj 122]

8 hours ago, FoundationEagle said:

Also I watched our entire team play lazy ball for a solid 10-12 minutes of the game as the lead shrunk from 21 to about 8. I kept waiting for Coach P to start yelling at someone and light a fire but it never happened.  I guess he's just not a motivator unless it's positive? 

 

That said, I thought the guys closed out the end well (other than missing some FT and Lang being thrown to the wolves over and over and over again as an inbounds man which he is clearly not and that's 10000000000 percent on the coaches). 

These refs seriously called over 12 fouls in the last 2 minutes. Many of which were on our guys for just being in the vicinity of an MSU player. The fact that we couldn't make some foul shots and the refs were doing everything they could to make sure MSU had another 20 possessions in the final 2 minutes and we still came out on top is a solid performance from a young team iyam. A month ago we would have lost that game. 

I'll take this win any day over a loss. At times, this team is pretty amazing to watch and at others times very frustrating. We have to be happy with the direction though. We are in the RPI top 60. 

[augolf1716 21,096]

W baby take'em anyway I can get them

[mustache eagle 2,388]

Yeah, they could have played better at the end.  But we didn't fall apart completely and we pulled out the win.

the difference between auburn/msu is much smaller than Kentucky/lsu.  We gave up a 20 point lead to win by 6.  Kentucky gave up a 25 point lead to win by 7 also at home.

it happens.  We won.  Rock on!

[GordoAU 87]

We sure do complain alot for a team that hasn't made the tourney since 2003. Look we got a good team that's young and mistake prone. We are getting close to being good enough to make the big dance. We are a team trending up FINALLY so stop crying about a W because we are not use to being a winning basketball team. Be happy that we are very close to being tourney ready and within the next few years we could become a consistent basketball power. WAR EAGLE! 

[boisnumber1 2,817]

I'll take the W & a few more like it. My only frustration was our problems inbounding the ball - we gotta figure that out - and the refs insisting on taking over the game. Very poor job by that crew but thats becoming the norm.

[gravejd 3,267]

Well glad i decided to not stay up for the 2nd half! Excellent win for the team. Getting to that .500 mark in conference is seeming more and more like a real possibility and that seemed like quite the reach with the way we started conference play. Loved seeing Brown get hot from 3 again. Loved seeing the great play from McClemore especially on D. I just can't shake the thought that before it is all said and done McClemore is going to be the favorite of this Freshmen class. And that is saying something! I continue to enjoy watching Johnson play the game. He is just exactly what you want in a PG and I hope Harper is taking lots of notes on how he runs the team when he is out there. We've now officially followed a big win with another win! Now on to the next big one against ol miss. We win that and oh my i feel the bubble rising!

[Tiger 8,817]

For those of you that are actually feeling underwhelmed: It feels good to feel underwhelmed after a win though, right?

A teaching lesson is always way better when it comes from a win rather than a loss. And the 2nd half gave us plenty of teaching moments. We are still figuring out how to close games -- not a surprise as that usually takes a while. We absolutely didn't finish like we should have. But we won and have exceeded our win total from last year during the first week of February. 

But for every bit of criticism of the 2nd half there should be equal praise for the 1st. But we held on in the 2nd and got the W. It was more stressful than it needed to be but that's what we will be dealing with until these guys have more than <1 season under their belts. Our entire back court and starting center are navigating their first seasons, and in Wiley's case his first semester. Just enjoy the road...

 

*We have blown double digit leads and lost earlier this season. This time we blew a big lead and still won. Progress......this team is gradually going to get there, not just wake up one day and be where you guys want them to be.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

11 hours ago, CameronCrazy said:

This team does not get another "a win is a win" or "this is what to expect with freshman" from me tonight. This was absolutely disgusting to watch! After possibly our best defensive half of the season, we followed it with possibly our worst. Giving up 64 points in a half is never acceptable and is downright embarrassing! I thought this team had really turned the corner after jumping out to a 20 point lead at half, but we again took a step backwards. 

 

This is my thought as well. The defense was terrific in the first half and terrible in the second. IT was a result of getting so far out in front that we relaxed and starting having fun. When that happens it isn't easy to flip the switch back to intense defense. Yes that is youth. 

11 hours ago, SCTiger2011 said:

Ummmm guys, we just secured our first winning season in 7 years. Sheesh, from some of the talk in here, you'd think expectations for this squad included an elite 8 berth. Enjoy the crucial, albeit small, turning point this program secured tonight. Now let's turn the focus to earning a postseason berth. I don't care if we almost blow 20 point leads the rest of the season. In fact, I'll take 4 or 5 more almost blown 20 point leads from here on out. It's not pretty, but the W/L column isn't biased 

Couldn't agree with this more. We get a win, mark a milestone for a winning season, move into the 50s of RPI, ENJOY WINNING A GAME.

8 hours ago, cole256 said:

Smh at this thread....good win, learning on the fly while winning

Like x 1000 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ good grief. 

3 hours ago, jared52 said:

@WarTiger, to your point, I thought it was very strange that he called the tech on MSU's bench from as far away as he did. I don't know what was said but he looked like he really just needed any excuse to T them up. I don't know if the breaks in flow that he caused helped AU or MSU more but the last 2 min took 20 min or more. Now, I thought that the fouls were the right calls late, because AU was very sloppy on defense. But it was like the refs were getting paid by the hour last night. 

A big contributing reason to why the tech was called was the route the player took back to the bench. He walked between CBP and our bench (may have made contact with the bench or CBP as there wan't much room). That was unnecessary and could have led to a fight or something.  

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

Here was the sequence of the Technical foul call in question. Our guys actually deserve a lot of credit here for not getting baited into some altercation, which could have resulted in suspensions etc for leaving the bench. 

1. About to inbound the ball after a made free throw MSU's player is substituted out of the game, he intentionally chooses to take a path back to the bench behind CBP and in front of our bench:

 

2. As he walks by he is clearly jawing at the bench: 

3. After jawing at the bench, he then motions and jaws at the crowed as well, as the official starts to follow him down the floor and monitor the situation:

Again, kudos to our guys fro not getting baited into anything here. As you can see the call wasn't made from clear across the court, it all started under our basket.  

[boomstick 1,315]

14 hours ago, FoundationEagle said:

Also I watched our entire team play lazy ball for a solid 10-12 minutes of the game as the lead shrunk from 21 to about 8. I kept waiting for Coach P to start yelling at someone and light a fire but it never happened.  I guess he's just not a motivator unless it's positive? 

 

That said, I thought the guys closed out the end well (other than missing some FT and Lang being thrown to the wolves over and over and over again as an inbounds man which he is clearly not and that's 10000000000 percent on the coaches). 

These refs seriously called over 12 fouls in the last 2 minutes. Many of which were on our guys for just being in the vicinity of an MSU player. The fact that we couldn't make some foul shots and the refs were doing everything they could to make sure MSU had another 20 possessions in the final 2 minutes and we still came out on top is a solid performance from a young team iyam. A month ago we would have lost that game. 

Bruce has said several times that he's learned that harsh, biting criticism of this team doesn't work. Getting upset and angry and dogging them doesn't make them play better. He's said, fairly candidly IMO, that he has to coddle them, to be a little gentler on them than what he's used to. And I think he's having to sacrifice some discipline to win some basketball games. I think he'd rather crawl some ass occasionally to get his point across, but kudos to him if he's realized that's no the way to get this team to respond and has adjusted his coaching accordingly.

[au302 2,669]

After reflecting I think that we actually played decent in the second half. State really heated up but we still managed to establish Wiley and maintain a nice lead. I think Rojo's airball three and "and one" foul helped turned the momentum. Really stupid sequence. Also, some of this goes on BP for not having Mustapha inbound the ball and for not getting the ball into Purifoy's hands, because he's by far our best free throw shooter imo 

[jared52 4,354]

3 hours ago, JwgreDeux said:

Here was the sequence of the Technical foul call in question. Our guys actually deserve a lot of credit here for not getting baited into some altercation, which could have resulted in suspensions etc for leaving the bench. 

1. About to inbound the ball after a made free throw MSU's player is substituted out of the game, he intentionally chooses to take a path back to the bench behind CBP and in front of our bench:

 

2. As he walks by he is clearly jawing at the bench: 

3. After jawing at the bench, he then motions and jaws at the crowed as well, as the official starts to follow him down the floor and monitor the situation:

Again, kudos to our guys fro not getting baited into anything here. As you can see the call wasn't made from clear across the court, it all started under our basket.  

See, this is why listening to the people doing the ESPN broadcast is worthless when it comes to explaining what's actually happening on the floor instead of trying to come up with clever metaphors for making good passes. They indicated it was on the bench and never pointed out (or showed a replay) what happened. Thanks for this.

EDIT: I realize now after watching it on WatchESPN again that they did talk about it. I had the volume really low since it was late and the kids were in bed. They did go over it well enough to explain what actually happened. The bad metaphors part stands though.

EDIT 2: The lady commentator wasn't too bad. She was pointing out that the late foul on Brown where he jump and Peters jumped into him to draw the foul, might not have been a foul. Brown shouldn't have jumped at him as much, but the offensive player can't get a foul call by initiating contact in the air. That one was 50/50 for me, but I think it was the right call.

[jared52 4,354]

1 hour ago, au302 said:

After reflecting I think that we actually played decent in the second half. State really heated up but we still managed to establish Wiley and maintain a nice lead. I think Rojo's airball three and "and one" foul helped turned the momentum. Really stupid sequence. Also, some of this goes on BP for not having Mustapha inbound the ball and for not getting the ball into Purifoy's hands, because he's by far our best free throw shooter imo 

You don't have your clutch FT shooter inbound the ball there. As a former big, I'd have McLemore or Smith or Wiley inbound there. They can see the floor better and should be able to get the ball to the guard quickly. Then take off on a fly pattern down the floor to be there if the press is broken. I know you don't want to clog up the court, but getting it to Harper or Heron or Brown (have 2 fighting to get open and one at half court to flash up if the first two aren't open within 2-3 seconds) should be doable. But, easier said than done it seems.

[au302 2,669]

I see your point with the bigs inbounding. I don't know if Wiley would be the right guy because hes so young and I can see him panicking and doing something stupid. I actually think McLemore would be good because he's very calm and smart. Those two qualities would help him stay calm, not throw the ball away, and make a smart pass 

[steeleagle 2,945]

23 minutes ago, au302 said:

I see your point with the bigs inbounding. I don't know if Wiley would be the right guy because hes so young and I can see him panicking and doing something stupid. I actually think McLemore would be good because he's very calm and smart. Those two qualities would help him stay calm, not throw the ball away, and make a smart pass 

Actually, I think that Spencer normally inbounds the ball, but with him being out, Purifoy was tried lately, but he had trouble inbounding the ball against Bama. In the game last night, they tried Lang, and to be honest, was just as bad, as he too passed the ball in a couple of times and made it hard for our guards to come up with it clean. 

They need someone better, because that helped their comeback, both in the Alabama game, and with MSU last night.

[steeleagle 2,945]

THe problem I had with our team as we struggled down the stretch, was all the stupid fouls we committed. Our guards would stick their hands in MSU guards who were slashing to the basket. It stopped the clock many times, and gave them free throws. WIth the time under 1 min..to foul them at all was terrible thinking...

And after Johnson did a super super job, near the end getting two assists in a row on eventual 3 pointers, and then slashing to the basket for a nice layup....I have NO clue why the next time down, with over 20 seconds on the clock he tries a 3 pointer, and then ends up fouling the guy who rebounded and pushed it up the court.

We had pretty much halted their comeback and the crowd was fueling them. Then he does this, and they get back into the game again...