Men vs ST Joe’s

[Win4AU 4,052]

I feel like Bruce is still searching for his starting 5 similar to the Oline this fall.  Once he gets a better feel I think this team can get into a rhythm and win some games.  Even though it doesn’t matter it still would be nice to get to that 20+ win level.  

[AUDub 11,131]

10 minutes ago, Potatooooooes!! said:

Was the Daly kid annoying or something? I was enjoying the roast

Nah credit where it's due. Doesn't look the part (wouldn't be out of place at the YMCA on Saturday afternoon) but a baller nonetheless. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,640]

47 minutes ago, Maverick.AU said:

I’m worried about Timme especially 

I don’t think we have that Okoro, Okeke guy that could defend a great inside out forward, at least not yet. Thor is probably the best option, but he fouled out fairly early yknow 

[AUDub 11,131]

2 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I don’t think we have that Okoro, Okeke guy that could defend a great inside out forward, at least not yet. Thor is probably the best option, but he fouled out fairly early yknow 

In his defense, those refs got really freaking whistle happy in the second half. 

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

9 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I don’t think we have that Okoro, Okeke guy that could defend a great inside out forward, at least not yet. Thor is probably the best option, but he fouled out fairly early yknow 

That’s my biggest worry with him, getting guys in foul trouble

[Zeek 16,607]

I was pleased with our depth. We rusted a lot and everyone looked competent. The pace we played at for the entire game had to be exhausting. 

[AUBwins 10,064]

12 hours ago, WarTiger said:

I would like to see how many points we scored off those 21 offensive rebounds. 

Read somewhere it was 30 points off 21 rebounds. 

[augolf1716 21,093]

10 hours ago, Maverick.AU said:

Ask Gwill, nothing can match my hatred for Gonzaga.

Can't touch my total disdain/hatred for Georgia Tech

[aubiefifty 16,666]

 

[aubiefifty 16,666]

Takeaways from Auburn’s season-opener vs. St. Joe’s

By Giana Han

8-10 minutes

---

Auburn finally got some answers to its long list of questions — the main one being the way many of its players perform in games, especially in crunch time — with the overtime 96-91 win over St. Joseph’s.

Ahead of the season opener against St. Joe’s in the Fort Myers tournament, there were seven Auburn Tigers who had never played college basketball.

“This was our first exhibition,” coach Bruce Pearl said. “This was our first scrimmage. This was our first game.”

The two teams went back and forth before St. Joe’s opened the scoring. It built a little lead before Auburn settled down a bit. Carried by three of the most experienced players, Allen Flanigan, Devan Cambridge and Tyrell Jones, Auburn slowly bypassed St. Joe’s and took the lead.

Heading into halftime, Auburn was up 44-36.

However, the Hawks started hitting its threes. Considering both teams were relying on their outside shooting, this made a difference, and St. Joe’s came within two halfway into the second.

Auburn, meanwhile, continued to throw up threes while occasionally driving into the paint. There wasn’t much offense, but there was a lot of enthusiasm. That made for some impressive plays but also some frustrating flops.

Auburn held on to its tenuous lead for eight long minutes. But then the sloppiness from the beginning of the game came back to haunt it. After an Auburn player helped tip a rebound in for two St. Joe’s points, the Tigers brought the ball up with just a minute left. But a bobbled catch killed time and then a messy pass led to a fast-break layup that put St. Joe’s up three.

Suddenly, the young Auburn team was in its first tight game, down with just seconds to go to an experienced team. After calling a timeout, Flanigan took it down the court and drew the foul. He sank both shots to cut the lead to one. St. Joe’s then made a foul shot, which the Tigers cancelled out with a dunk by Jaylin Williams. When St. Joe’s Ryan Daly missed the three, it sent the game into overtime.

“When the game got close and it was in the second half and it was overtime, they — St. Joe’s — I felt like had the advantage because they had a few guys who were on the floor more than last year late and we didn’t,” Pearl said.

Multiple players stepped up in overtime, but Babatunde Akingbola’s defense and Justin Powell’s free throw shooting helped Auburn to edge out St. Joe’s for the team’s first win of the season.

“It’s a good win for a young team,” Pearl said.

They looked their age

The basketball slipped off fingers, bounced off chests and went flying past its mark. It was sloppy and frantic and clear evidence of Auburn’s youth. Pearl said at the start of the season that this is the youngest team he’s ever coached with just two juniors and no returning starters. In their first game together, that inexperienced showed.

On offense, the Tigers were trying too hard. They were forcing passes, forcing threes and forcing layups. It seemed like they were throwing the ball up with no set plan. It almost looked like a game of street ball. Defensively, there were some clear communication issues. Two players would stick with the ball instead of switching, leaving someone open in the paint. Sometimes Tigers strayed too far from their opponents in off ball defense.

But their inexperience was offset by energy, effort and athleticism. For example, Williams stole a ball but then went sliding and lost it. The steal showed both effort and quickness. On defense, they had some big blocks. Williams also had a big dunk, something he started to add to Auburn’s game last season. They hit some really good threes — although they also relied a little too heavily on their ability to just throw the ball up. There were rebounds where two Auburn players went flying above everyone else, but both came down with the ball, causing some confusion.

It was clear that Auburn has a lot of players who haven’t played college ball. However, it was also clear that this team could be great, especially if Sharife Cooper returns and helps the team run an offense and if Williams continues with the performance he started the season off with.

Allen Flanigan, sophomores, step up

Pearl said that it would be imperative some of the young players stepped up as leaders since there are no veteran players to be the obvious leaders. When Auburn first hit the court, Flanigan seemed ready to fill that role. He looked composed on the court, more so than any other player.

Flanigan took charge and also took it upon himself to score. As a freshman, Flanigan was more hesitant to go to the basket or to shoot the three. That hesitance seems to have been replaced by more confidence. By halftime, Flanigan had 10 points, triple his average points per game from the 2019-2020 season.

“What a difference a year does make,” Pearl said when describing the sophomores’ play.

There were times when Flanigan stood outside instead of trying to get the ball, but there were also times when it seemed like he was directing the offense. Akingbola, who went to high school with Isaac Okoro, said Flanigan is Auburn’s next Okoro. While the time has passed for Flanigan to be that one-and-done player that Okoro was, he made a case for being the guy to step up into the role Okoro left behind.

Flanigan was quieter in the second half while the other sophomores found some rhythm. Jones made some big plays when the game got close to maintain the lead. Cambridge didn’t shoot great, but he still had a double-double. Pearl said that Akingbola also contributed as a vocal leader, and Williams was a leader through his performance on the court.

Auburn showed its trust in Flanigan because, after St. Joe’s took the lead in the final seconds of regulation, it turned to Flanigan. He took the ball all the way down the court straight to the hoop but couldn’t finish the layup. Upon further review, they found the Hawks had fouled Flanigan, and he hit both foul shots to bring Auburn within one.

In overtime, Auburn turned to Flanigan multiple times. He wasn’t able to finish, but it was a very different look than how he played last season. Flanigan finished with 12 points and five rebounds.

No “cream” emerged

Without any scrimmages and less practices where they could go five on five, Pearl didn’t see any five players establish themselves as clearly the best.

“I would love for lots of cream to rise to the top,” Pearl said before the season started. “There’s just been a lot of bounce, and I think it’s because we’ve got 10 or 11 guys that can all play. Last year, there would have been more separation between our seniors and our freshmen.”

That showed by the way Pearl rotated in 10 players in the first 11 minutes. He started the four most experienced players – Flanigan, Williams, Dylan Cambridge, and Tyrell Jones – as well as one freshman, Dylan Cardwell. However, the other guys quickly started subbing in.

And everyone who went in contributed. By halftime, nine of the 10 players had scored. Only one person, Flanigan, was in the double digits, while the other points were distributed evenly.

After the half, some more players stepped up. Auburn had 35 points from its bench and five players in the double digits.

By the end of the game, Auburn was left in a similar situation it came in with. There were lots of players who did really great things and who also made some mistakes. Flanigan looked the most like a veteran. Powell was the second-leading scorer, and Akingbola did his thing on defense. But overall, there weren’t any clear stars. Lots of players showed flashes of athleticism and of potential.

Williams probably stood out the most with his insane athleticism. He had 18 points, 11 rebounds, one block and multiple dunks to show why Cambridge said he’s in a different “go-mode” this season. He made some really strong moves in the paint. He pump-faked a Hawk defender to give Auburn the lead in the final moments of overtime.

It’s only one game in, though, and one game can’t provide all the answers. Some players may just need to get the first experience under their belts and will just go up from here. But the starting five will not be the definite starting five for the rest of the season, that is clear.

[tigerman1186 537]

Regardless who was in the game, when they came in they all played hard....yes at times it was somewhat sloppy, but the effort to me out weighed the sloppiness....like the energy this team brought and look forward to their game today....it did seem like Flanigan spent some time in the off-season working on his free throws...I know we still missed a good percentage, but it seems the ones who played last year have worked to improve on their free throws....

[chizhead 618]

If Cooper had played, it would have been a double digit win. I'm pretty sure. At times our spacing was bad and we had way too damn many defensive lapses. But honestly? I didn't expect them to perform as well as they did. They play ugly, but there is a lot of talent on the floor and I may be wrong ,but I am in my 6th decade of following AU sports so I am going back a long way in AU basketball history. From an overall basketball talent standpoint, this may be the most talent on an AU team that has ever been assembled. I didn't say they were the best starting 5, just from a 10-12 deep prospective. They can all play and even though Cardwells rust showed up bigly, you can see the potential with him and that bigass body in the paint. If we can get Cooper in the mix, this will be a fun season although there will be a bunch of losses and no post season. We will get punked today. I just hope it doesn't discourage them in the next game. Gonzaga is really good

[augolf1716 21,093]

A little side story about St Joseph not concerning BB. St Joe's has no football program back in the 80's they adopted Auburn as its football school to support. I remember being at the game and the stadium announcer recognizing them sitting in the north endzone. They even brought their own mascot picture at the bottom of this post.

 

AUBURN, Ala. - Jim McGinness and his fellow Saint Joseph's University students had a problem in 1987. They were college football fans without a college football team.

With 21 NCAA Tournament appearances, St. Joe's is well known for basketball. But fall Saturdays were quiet on the Philadelphia campus. Too quiet for Jim and his buddies.

The problem created an opportunity. The opportunity created a road trip. The road trip created 30 years of allegiance to Auburn.

"We needed a football team," McGinness said. "We were already in Philly and Philly was cold. So we threw out some names. Went South. We put it through the paper, and there were some votes. Ultimately, we decided that it was Auburn that we wanted to do."

The St. Joe's students sent a letter to Auburn, asking if the University would be willing to host a group of students.

"I still remember the day when we got the letter back from Auburn," McGinness said. "One of my buddies waited until we all got there. We opened it up, and it was a letter from Coach Dye saying, 'Hey, we're honored. If you come down, we'll give you tickets and floor space.' I'll tell you what, we couldn't have set up that trip any quicker."

What began as a conversation among roommates quickly grew into a two-bus caravan of 100 students.

"Father Rashford, who was the president of St. Joe's at the time, came on the bus and blessed us as we went," McGinness recalls. "And away we went. I remember his last words were, 'Remember, you're representing St. Joe's.' I will say we were on good behavior, but we weren't on the best of behaviors."

The road trip began Friday after class. An all-night journey south. Coach Dye had promised breakfast would be waiting for the students, but trouble with one of the buses caused a delay. The students arrived shortly before Tiger Walk on Auburn's Homecoming game against Mississippi State.

"On gameday, Coach Dye was still waiting for us to come in," McGinness said. "I remember he shook our hands and said, 'Okay, I've got to go.' We still couldn't believe that Coach Dye was sitting there waiting for us as we were running two hours late on gameday. It was just incredible.

"For a lot of people, it was their first SEC game, which to me still remains a very different experience than any of the other leagues out there."

Auburn beat the Bulldogs, 38-7. The visitors from Pennsylvania celebrated their adopted team's victory long into the evening. Some ended up sleeping on the court at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

"Others found refuge in some of the fraternities," McGinness said. "Some people I know just didn't even sleep that time."

Three decades later, McGinness remains a fan.

"It was a good trip, and that's where it all started," he said. "Truthfully, the hospitality we got that weekend was just incredible. Right then and there, I dropped my former allegiance to other schools, and for football, Auburn was the school for me."

The visit made such an impression, McGinness and a few friends shared Auburn season tickets for a few years after graduation. Auburn football still connects the former college roommates.

"Text them back and forth on Saturday nights during the game," he said. "It's just been one of those allegiances that nobody's ever dropped."

McGinness became an executive in supply chain management. His travels take him all over the world.

"I've given plenty of a 'War Eagle' over in Hong Kong, or Brussels or London, or even down in Panama," he said. "You always see Auburn people throughout the U.S. but when you see them internationally, that's when you start really remembering the experience."

For his 50th birthday, Jim received a surprise from Auburn Athletics.

The relationship between Auburn and McGinness continued this fall, when Jim's father reached out to the athletic department before his son's 50th birthday.

"A box showed up from Auburn," McGinness said. "It was a shocking surprise."

Autographed pictures from head coaches. Team posters. An Auburn shirt.

"It was something that really made you feel special from Auburn," he said.

Could one weekend on the Plains, nearly 30 years ago, really create a lifelong bond? "Without a doubt," he said.

For proof, he offered the name of the McGinness family dog. "Aubie."

Jim McGinness and his friends from St. Joe's shared Auburn season tickets in the early '90s.

 

 

 

 

 

[ellitor 33,062]

12 hours ago, Maverick.AU said:

Adam Morrison. I hope they never win a game

What did he do?

[Dunndone414 469]

Vegas had Auburn +12 vs Gonzaga prior to the St. Joe’s game, now up to +18.

[ellitor 33,062]

3 hours ago, Dunndone414 said:

Vegas had Auburn +12 vs Gonzaga prior to the St. Joe’s game, now up to +18.

Still better than I would’ve thought

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

4 hours ago, ellitor said:

What did he do?

Just didn’t like the guy 😂. I’m petty when it comes to bball lol