Men vs Tennessee Game Thread

[tgrogan21 6,198]

1 minute ago, tgrogan21 said:

We still control our own destiny. 1 game lead with 2 games left. Win them both and we good. Gotta have better guard play, we saw flashes of good Flan, and Jabari is getting better and better.

 

Also, we don't have to deal with another Nike ball all season. It's Wilson from here on out baby!

[GTNupe11 2,033]

Bruce needs to play zone more on defense. Way too many times we let their guards get downhill and make plays. 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

3 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

Just feels like we are a Jared Harper away from being a sure fire final four team (if there is such a thing). All the other pieces are there.

You're right! We are. Wen has moments of that but Jared's PG IQ was amazing. Not comparing Jared to CP3 but they both have a high IQ. Knowing when to exploit mismatches and getting the ball to guys late in games. Knowing when to shoot, understanding that you have a team in foul trouble so you put pressure on a team to defend you..etc. 

It's the small things they do that make a huge difference in the game. I've always been a UCONN fan b/c i loved the Big East play(the old Big East). Every run UCONN went on and championship won was fueled by amazing guard play. We're capable of getting it done but we have to kill the bad habits NOW! 

If we can just stop with the horrible turnovers that would help us a lot. 

[e808 3,025]

3 minutes ago, 1auburn1 said:

Guards definitely getting exposed.   Will be a short tourney unless this picks up.   Got out hustled also.    Poor game all around except for Jabari.  

It’s not really being exposed. If they just play the game within the flow Auburn would be fine. The bad decisions is what’s killing them. Not to be that guy but all of Auburns losses are mirror images of themselves. They are more about what Auburn did than the opponent 

[Jgarrett7 957]

2 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

No s***. Always from the crowd that barely watches AU basketball and just checks the score and W/L record. 

I’m responding to this not as an attack on you but because you responded to my earlier post. I’ve watched nearly every televised game of AU basketball for the last 15 years. This is the best team we’ve put on the court in that time by a wide margin. We had a great final 4 run because we got hot at the right time but this team beats that one 7-8 out of 10 games. If you don’t think it’s hard to win on the road in the SEC you just aren’t paying attention, and yes many of our new found bandwagon fans are very spoiled. Again, not assuming you to be bandwagon. But the “spoiled” statement still rings very true.

[e808 3,025]

The need to hit 3s has really ruined basketball. My thinking some points are better than no points . Derozan is doing just fine shooting 2s#noyourlimits

[jluvah 664]

5 minutes ago, MaxCohen216 said:

This stupid loss is all on the coaches.  Bruce refuses to make KD and Wendell play team ball.  They jack up way too many NBA 3-pointers early in the shot clock.  Why the freaking hell does Bruce allow them to do this game after game after game?  It's killing us.  Plus:

• Kessler had about 47% effort in rebounding tonight.
• I love Devan's hustle, but I hate to see him shoot.  As much as Jabari's shot stroke is smooth and beautiful, Devan's is ugly.
• The lack of effective guard play makes Jabari feel pressured to produce, and so he takes some ill-advised shots.  It would be different if our guards actually tried to run offensive plays instead of jacking up an NBA 3 every chance they get.

We need team ball, not me ball.  Something tells me that if Bruce hasn't put a stop to Wendell and KD playing out of control by now, he won't.  We'll be lucky to make the Elise Eight.

Couldn’t have said it any better. Agree with all of this 

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

also it's kinda crazy that we have our worst games with Nike basketballs vs the other brands like @tgrogan21 has also said 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Maverick.AU

[Old fan 47 769]

9 minutes ago, AUgrad2013 said:

Guys - Auburn, UK, Ark, UT - top 4 teams in SEC. Neither of the 4 have beat the other top 4 on the road. I’m concerned but we are okay. We also have played competitive basketball every game. UT and UK have blow each other out at home. 

Okay. That’s a good point made. It’s just that we have been struggling the last month against almost everyone, home or away. Yes, we are competitive, but that’s what we all wish for our FB team to be in 22. We have a once in a collegiate career forward and the damn best shot blocker in the NCAA. We really are weak at the guard position though and without that, there will be no Titles. 

[Barnacle 9,064]

3 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

You're right! We are. Wen has moments of that but Jared's PG IQ was amazing. Not comparing Jared to CP3 but they both have a high IQ. Knowing when to exploit mismatches and getting the ball to guys late in games. Knowing when to shoot, understanding that you have a team in foul trouble so you put pressure on a team to defend you..etc. 

It's the small things they do that make a huge difference in the game. I've always been a UCONN fan b/c i loved the Big East play(the old Big East). Every run UCONN went on and championship won was fueled by amazing guard play. We're capable of getting it done but we have to kill the bad habits NOW! 

If we can just stop with the horrible turnovers that would help us a lot. 

Think we can get things right? 

[tgrogan21 6,198]

1 minute ago, Maverick.AU said:

also it's kinda crazy that we have our worst games with Nike basketballs vs the other brands like @tgrogan21 has also said 

I know it probably has a lot to do with being on the road but every single road game we've struggled has been with nike balls. The road games we've won by a lot have been Wilson.

[AUDynasty 585]

Honestly, this is who we are. Offensively as a team we’re not a great long range shooting squad. We may get hot here and there, but this is what we’ll get. We’re prone to slow starts. This is just who we are. As long as we continue to emphasize defensively, we’ll be alright.

 

i think this is a perfect example how we need to run our offense through Jabari. I think we’ll be alright come postseason.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

8 minutes ago, AUgrad2013 said:

Guys - Auburn, UK, Ark, UT - top 4 teams in SEC. Neither of the 4 have beat the other top 4 on the road. I’m concerned but we are okay. We also have played competitive basketball every game. UT and UK have blow each other out at home. 

I could agree with this if we were not so sloppy. This is the time of the year that things like turnovers and understanding game situations should be understood. Teams should be kicking it up a notch for the conference tournament and main tourney. I'm not panicking b/c I'm not really surprised considering we have not fixed our bad habits. Our recent wins have come against weak SEC teams. 

UT, UK and Arky are peaking. UK is winning games without 2 of their starters. UK starters played limited minutes today and didn't start and still almost beat Arky. It's not only that we've lost on the road but it's how we've lost on the road. And we almost lost to 2 bottom feeders UGA and Mizzou on the road if he were not for late second heroics. 

We're not going to be playing in the Jungle tourney time so we have to get things cleaned up FAST. 

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

1 minute ago, tgrogan21 said:

I know it probably has a lot to do with being on the road but every single road game we've struggled has been with nike balls. The road games we've won by a lot have been Wilson.

Wilson better monopoly this market on basketballs quick. Like when 2k stopped making football games. Wilson needs to pull and EA

[TigerTennis80 345]

2nd week in a row when we've had an 11 point lead on the road & did things to give the momentum back to the home team. Last week it was turnovers. Today it was bad shots & turnovers (we had fewer of them but 3 in a row at 1 point during their run to re-gain the lead), & also that stretch of plays when Jabari got a T. If the home team makes great plays to get the momentum back, ok. But we've helped them get it back 2 weeks in a row. I would love for us to have said after last Saturday that we weren't going to do that again, that we'd learn from it. Maybe twice will drive it home to us that we have to play smarter & tougher if we want to make a tournament run. Don't know what to say about Wendell's shooting. You'd think 1 of those 3s would go in just by luck. We got 5 points from the bench. And Kessler had 8 points, 5 rebounds. Looked to me like their bigs played harder than Kessler today. Somebody who knows more than me may disabuse me of that notion. Bottom line is that was a disappointing final 12 minutes today, just like last week. Poop!

[tgrogan21 6,198]

1 minute ago, Maverick.AU said:

Wilson better monopoly this market on basketballs quick. Like when 2k stopped making football games. Wilson needs to pull and EA

There should be a consistent ball anyways. Wilson is used in every post season game, it should become the only ball used. Kind of stupid to use different ones.

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

Just now, tgrogan21 said:

There should be a consistent ball anyways. Wilson is used in every post season game, it should become the only ball used. Kind of stupid to use different ones.

I knew the fix was in, no other explanation. We are undefeated as far as I'm concerned. Cheaterssssssssss

[AUBwins 10,075]

Well thought we would play well.  Defenses have figured out to play us deep in back court. I've changed my opinion on tourney.  Hope we go on a run and win it.  We need Mo! Would really help us to win on road against MSU. We can't sleep on USCe. Frank has figured it out now.  No more losses.  We are basically doing what Baylor did but at a bad time of year.  Can we regroup in time? I think so.  We need to get out of conference lol.  We are essentially playing a sweet 16 game every week.  We are still a tough out but must have better guard play to go far.  

[ArgoEagle 1,773]

Our inconsistent guard play is killing us! Harper and Brown were lights out at this point in 2019.  Green and Jasper have fizzled out and KD is too streaky.  Our offense right now is stale and boring,,, walk up the court, throw the ball to Jabari and hope he makes it. Not gonna work in the big dance!

[gr82b4au 5,568]

Getting out rebounded that badly is the big trouble spot for me. I get the fact that we can’t shoot. That is more than a trend at this point - this team cannot shoot on the road. Green has been really poor and AF is just not a good ball player right now. But we should be able to play defense and rebound. 
But rebounding takes effort and that was terrible today. 
I hate that we are playing our worst basketball at this time. 
 

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

Also, they said that vol twitter would absolutely embarrass us, months ago if we lost. I don't think I've seen an in conference opponent with a weaker meme game, good lord 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

2 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

Think we can get things right? 

Yes, b/c we are a very talented team. It will take some changes from mainly the coaching IMO. Bruce and the coaching staff have to take more control in certain situations. We certainly need more offensive sets. We seem them when we're down and getting the ball to Jabari late. But why don't we see them more in the second half to take command of the game? 

I'm not trying to make Jabari a 30 pt scorer but that action with him can lead to open looks for Walker and other guys. IMO we need to be driving the ball more. Our offense is set up way to far out at 3pt line and we're doing to much dribbling and looking for someone with a bail out shot. 

I fully understand this team is limited in its offense production. Our defense fuels so much but we have to find ways to get through our scoring droughts. You can not compound bad shooting with taking even more 3s and jumpers when we're not that as a team. You drive the ball and get to the FT line or you run more on offense. 

[TigerTennis80 345]

I listened to Bruce. He said Jabari & KD played well today but no one else. If we'd just had a 3rd guy play well we'd have been in a good spot, but no. 5 bench points. Remember when he used to say "my 10 will beat your 10?" Man, where did that go? 

[81spacetiger 157]

		Total ZEP/Flan      Pts
*	26-Feb-22	4	Loss
	23-Feb-22	18
*	19-Feb-22	2	Loss
	16-Feb-22	2	FC 51pts
	12-Feb-22	17
*	8-Feb-22	6	Loss
*	5-Feb-22	8	2pt win
	1-Feb-22	12
	29-Jan-22	12
*	25-Jan-22	5	1pt win
	22-Jan-22	10
	19-Jan-22	13
*	15-Jan-22	14
*	11-Jan-22	10
	8-Jan-22	12
	4-Jan-22	23

* = Road Game

TO in 2nd half + rebounding all game were killers; so was our point production from these 2 guys.  Flan got 4 but nothing from Zep.   It would seem that we have lost our ability to play on the road.  If the front court doesn't have a totally outstanding game scoring and these guys are not scoring - we loose.  

We have to figure out a way to not have to lean on Jabari to win the game, we need the team to score across the board.  We don't need 15pts from everyone, but we must have a scoring threat across the board to be harder to defend.  

Thank God Arkansas helped out today and Purdue lost.  We still are on the inside track to win the regular SEC season if we can win on the road next week at MSU.

Edited February 26, 2022 by 81spacetiger

[auburnatl1 4,895]

Our guards are all around 6’ they HAVE to make up that deficiency with shooting, slashing, and  sheer quickness. Otherwise they’re. just …. small and out matched. 

I’m not looking for trae young but dear lord this is concerning.  No guard threat means defenses can pack the inside and the entire offense dies.

Either the guards figure it out fast or this is going to end in a fizzle.

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by auburnatl1