Men vs. Arkansas

[Tiger 8,818]

Being down to 7 is hurting us. We cannot overwhelm teams with our style anymore because we're a man short and it's thrown our rotation out of sorts. So we are pushing our limits right now which is also hurting our jumpers with our tired legs.

Even with Anfernee when 2 of our 3 guards (Harper, Brown, Heron) have bad games we were going to find a tough time winning against SEC teams. But now Bryce's injuries are affecting his jumper and Harper seems fatigued like he maxed out after the Bama game. Heron is a damn man and I hope he stays around for another year to add more polish to his game. I just hope we win on Saturday and the crowd can help will these guys to the finish line. I don't like how we match up vs S Carolina at all though.

 

Well, the good news (understatement??) is we have the basketball players on campus right now to actually go to the Final 4. Unfortunately, one sustained a freak injury and 2 guys are ineligible. But Bruce has us in position and that is an incredible feeling. Where he has brought the program is unreal!

[autigeremt 6,598]

I also believe we will be rested come the NCAAs. That will help in the first two games should we make it past the opening round.

[alexava 6,973]

24 minutes ago, aucanucktiger said:

This 21 win Ark team has been playing consistent top tier ball. We're not exactly peaking at the right time but IMHO this was hardly a disgraceful 9 point road loss. South Carolina is a "just win baby" situation.

At their house is hard to win. We scrapped. The shots we need didn’t go. Just basketball. Next game. We can do it. 

[AU64 10,122]

40 minutes ago, fishepa said:

Our defense needs to get better.  We can't expect to win games giving up 90+ points.  The problem with that is we don't have enough bodies, our guys get tired.  We are in a tough position.

Arky had more break out scores than we have given up in the past month of combined games.    One reason their FG percent so high, the shooter  had his hand in the hoop on a good many of their shots.....and think I heard they are the top 3 pt FG shooting team in the league and they looked like it. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

52 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Arky had more break out scores than we have given up in the past month of combined games.    One reason their FG percent so high, the shooter  had his hand in the hoop on a good many of their shots.....and think I heard they are the top 3 pt FG shooting team in the league and they looked like it. 

I saw their stats, and they shoot almost 50% at home. They were peaking,and having 7 seniors on their last hom game, was enough to carry them emotionally.

We fought, and did what we do...come back. But....I saw too many missed assignments on D, where someone forgot to guard a player who then made wide open shots. I don't know if Pearl has them playing different D, but they are not playing well on D at time too.

And 2 out of our 3 HAVE to have a good outside game for us to win. (no 3's from Brown, Brown/Harper shooting 1-13 from 3 is horrible).

[Tiger 8,818]

Role players generally play better at home -- so that is in our favor for Saturday. I look for our supporting cast to have better showing this weekend.

I do like that no matter how poorly we play teams just cannot seem to put us away. That's a sign of a good team.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

The problem is a combination of things. McLemore not only was a great shot blocker and affects shots he does not block. He was also our best low post defender. When he was there you saw a lot less dunks. McLemore's shot blocking allowed the outside defenders to overplay so if they got beat he was there.  Since Brown's initial shoulder injury then his foot injury his outside shot has been off and he is not the same defender he was.  McLemore can step out and hit the three bringing the big man with him. Spencer plays hard but their big does not have to respect his outside game so stays down low which makes it harder for us to drive and score.

I always liked McLemore's game but until he was gone I didn't realize how much he helped make this good team into a great team.  We can still do well but we need Bryce Brown back to 100% or close to it. This might sound like blasphemy but I want us to win against SC to clinch SEC. Then  lose early in SEC tournament to give Brown more time to heal and the rest of the team some rest. Even if we drop a seed or two I believe that will give us our best shot to go far in the NCAA tournament.

[AU64 10,122]

1 minute ago, AuburnNTexas said:

The problem is a combination of things. McLemore not only was a great shot blocker and affects shots he does not block. He was also our best low post defender. When he was there you saw a lot less dunks. McLemore's shot blocking allowed the outside defenders to overplay so if they got beat he was there.  Since Brown's initial shoulder injury then his foot injury his outside shot has been off and he is not the same defender he was.  McLemore can step out and hit the three bringing the big man with him. Spencer plays hard but their big does not have to respect his outside game so stays down low which makes it harder for us to drive and score. Add

I always liked McLemore's game but until he was gone I didn't realize how much he helped make this good team into a great team.  We can still do well but we need Bryce Brown back to 100% or close to it. This might sound like blasphemy but I want us to win against SC to clinch SEC. Then  lose early in SEC tournament to give Brown more time to heal and the rest of the team some rest. Even if we drop a seed or two I believe that will give us our best shot to go far in the NCAA tournament.

I could live with that......don't worry about the individual battles...just win the war.. 

As for McLemore....agree there...only when he has been gone do we realize what all he had been doing.   Kind of like when some unsung person leaves a company and it ends up taking two people to do the same work.  

[Tiger 8,818]

Great post @AuburnNTexas

 

Conference tournaments aren't meant for P5 teams who already have their fate set in terms of the NCAA Tourney. Winning the regular season SEC means much more than winning 3 games in 3 days anyway plus the added rest for this team would make it more valuable.

That does not mean I don't want to win the SEC tourney, I could just see the positives of having a short run in that tournament as we prepare for the real one. I really think we could've gone to the Elite 8 at least with Anfernee, now I think it's going to depend on who we are matched up with.

[aujeff11 6,243]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

I do like that no matter how poorly we play teams just cannot seem to put us away. That's a sign of a good team

We certainly can shoot the FT’s with the best of ‘em. That helped a lot last night.

[around4ever 4,139]

Is there even a remote chance that UGA can beat Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday?

[GwillMac6 20,666]

6 minutes ago, around4ever said:

Is there even a remote chance that UGA can beat Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday?

Absolutely! Uga beat florida at florida recently.

[AUBwins 10,074]

Georgia is another jekyll and Hyde team.  Never know what they will bring.  It will be Senior day at UT as well, plus with us now tied with them, everything was set up to give them a shot at outright title should we lose.  This time, we play first on Saturday.  Our outcome may or may not affect how well they play. 

[BJCrawford 1,568]

I’ve noticed other teams having their Senior Days. Do we even have any seniors??  Think I heard Arkansas had seven! This should mean a good future if we Just hang on to Bruce! Getting Wiley back would be nice too.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

What encourages me about the SCar game this Saturday was our performance in the second half in Columbia a few weeks ago. When Anfernee went down, we then ended up beating the heck out of them on the glass in the second half and out scored them too. As long as we don’t go down by 20 to begin the game,  I think our crowd and what we’re playing for will inspire us to get to that finish line. I’m ready for it to be here because I’m anxious 

[triangletiger 1,599]

12 hours ago, BJCrawford said:

I’ve noticed other teams having their Senior Days. Do we even have any seniors??  Think I heard Arkansas had seven! This should mean a good future if we Just hang on to Bruce! Getting Wiley back would be nice too.

Our only senior is Patrick Keim.