Men vs. Arkansas

[jared52 4,354]

Just now, TitanTiger said:

He's been given a couple of days off to become an adult.

Gonna take more than that for him though, but it’s a start.

[looney 794]

Just now, WarTiger said:

don't feed the troll.  quit responding and he'll disappear like he does when Auburn wins. 

Really easy to block someone who I've never noticed contributing anything of value and has only emerged in a stretch of losses. 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

2 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I think this current play is adequate enough to beat a 14th seed 

 

Im not even sure if we'll be top 4 seeded after this though. Id be surprised if UT doesnt end up jumping us in that regard 

We were still top 10 RPI coming into tonight.  Win the regular season title and a game or two in St Louis and we're a 3 seed at worst.

[TitanTiger 20,499]

Just now, jared52 said:

Gonna take more than that for him though, but it’s a start.

It's a shot across the bow.  If he returns and does the same s***, he'll get the permaban.

[Weagle98 119]

2 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

He's been given a couple of days off to become an adult.

How about till Sunday?  One can hope!

[WeagleAU 594]

I have a feeling they’ll beat USC at home.  And Auburn arena will be packed to celebrate them winning the regular season.  Finally Auburn basketball is relevant again, I’m definitely happy with that. 

[TitanTiger 20,499]

4 minutes ago, Weagle98 said:

How about till Sunday?  One can hope!

I'll consider it.

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

In other news:

this loss sucks and I hate how we’ve fallen apart here the last couple games offensively. We’ve got to find some fire or this Tournament berth will be short lived. Regroup and get ready for USCe.

[corchjay 5,311]

1 more game and 1 more win to go at home to clinch.  I like our chances.  Hopefully we drive to the basket and crash the boards again getting their bigs in trouble.  Arkansas is a good team and a very good team in that Arena.  So proud of this team and we will still be playing in the big dance with a good seeding regardless 

[AUBwins 10,075]

Lost in this: Mustafa went off!  Way to be a player! He is actually playing his way to being drafted unfortunately for us in terms of depth next year. 28 points for Mu. 

[homersapien 11,393]

Not to lapse into into 'woulda-coulda shoulda' mode, but IMO, the last two games reflect our lack of depth.  Having fresh players to feed into the game increases the chance of having someone get in the "zone".  And you don't have to worry so much about fouls.   Just imagine having Purifloy, Wiley- and now, McClemore - still in the rotation.   

Coach Pearl has done a great job but just imagine if he had retained his full team. 

[corchjay 5,311]

Just now, AUBwins said:

Lost in this: Mustafa went off!  Way to be a player! He is actually playing his way to being drafted unfortunately for us in terms of depth next year. 28 points for Mu. 

Unless he goes off in the 2 tournaments and carries us to an elite 8 then I think he is back.  Needs to get better defensively, 3 point shooting, and going to his right.  Still a stud player and a dang good scorer

[Maverick.AU 13,281]

To be fair, USCe has a really rough final stretch of the season and got bounced out the first round of the tourney but went to the final four. Just need to get mentally right going into March that’s the most important thing

[GwillMac6 20,688]

We have discussed the past couple of weeks of how these 2 back to back road games would be the 2 toughest games of our season. WELL GUESS WHAT?!?! we were right!! So we have that! lol. Bad news is... WE WERE RIGHT and lost. BOOOOOO!!!!! Most other years these past 2 games we would of got spanked about like bama did tonight. This team never quits and always makes it a game no matter how bad we are playing. LOVE IT! I will say harper and Bryce brown not having good games the past 2 games when we needed them most is very concerning. Herons game is easier to travel because he attacks the rim at will and that is going to be the same anywhere. But for mainly shooters like harper and Bryce Brown are shooting in a hostile road environment in a arena you are not used to can always be dicey. Honestly they have not played well the past 3 games on the road. At least shooting from the field. Harper was literally perfect from the free throw stripe tonight. I hope they are much better in the Show Me State for the sec tourney. WAR DAMN!!!! LETS GET SOME PAYBACK THIS WEEKEND vs usc lite AND CLINCH THE NUMBER ONE SEED!!! WOOOOO!!! LETS GO!!!

[alexava 6,973]

We Home! Gotta hit 3 ball. Terrible from deep. That’s all it takes. 

[alexava 6,973]

And what really sucks is we are all Georgia fans Saturday. 

[AU64 10,122]

36 minutes ago, alexava said:

We Home! Gotta hit 3 ball. Terrible from deep. That’s all it takes. 

The last home game of the season.

From here on out, whatever basketball we are playing will be played on unfamiliar courts,  and probably without a big bunch of AU fans to fire up the team.  Someone needs to be the leader through that process. 

[AUDynasty 585]

4 minutes ago, AU64 said:

The last home game of the season.

From here on out, whatever basketball we are playing will be played on unfamiliar courts,  and probably without a big bunch of AU fans to fire up the team.  Someone needs to be the leader through that process. 

I wonder if that can be attributed to noisy venues while playing away games as compared to neutral courts. I want to believe we'd perform better on neutral courts, but we gotta see to believe it. Fortunately, we have SEC tournament coming up to train before the NCAA.

[mustache eagle 2,408]

9 hours ago, homersapien said:

Not to lapse into into 'woulda-coulda shoulda' mode, but IMO, the last two games reflect our lack of depth.  Having fresh players to feed into the game increases the chance of having someone get in the "zone".  And you don't have to worry so much about fouls.   Just imagine having Purifloy, Wiley- and now, McClemore - still in the rotation.   

Coach Pearl has done a great job but just imagine if he had retained his full team. 

this has puzzled me.  i know our walk-on's drop off in talent level, but I'd have assumed they could could give some of these guys a blow coming out of timeouts for a minute or 2.  i was unable to watch the game so i dont know the flow, but it would seem a warm body on the floor for 2-3 minute per scholarship player would be worthwhile.

i know that spencer had a couple of bad fouls called on him (per the thread) but 5 fouls in 12 minutes?  dunbar with 4 TO in 15 minutes?

25 fouls on our 8 rotation players and 20 fouls on their 10?  We did turn those 20 fouls into 31-34 for 91.2% at the FT line.  That is a crazy stat!

25% vs 52% from 3

34 vs 52 % FG's

0 vs 8 blocks!!!

It is amazing this was only a 9 point loss.  Speaks volumes to the heart of these guys, but they are gonna need to find something special on Saturday against cocky's bully ball.  Would it be bad of me to hope that usc starting 5 get sick saturday morning?

[tigeraddikt 1,615]

13 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

this has puzzled me.  i know our walk-on's drop off in talent level, but I'd have assumed they could could give some of these guys a blow coming out of timeouts for a minute or 2.  i was unable to watch the game so i dont know the flow, but it would seem a warm body on the floor for 2-3 minute per scholarship player would be worthwhile.

i know that spencer had a couple of bad fouls called on him (per the thread) but 5 fouls in 12 minutes?  dunbar with 4 TO in 15 minutes?

25 fouls on our 8 rotation players and 20 fouls on their 10?  We did turn those 20 fouls into 31-34 for 91.2% at the FT line.  That is a crazy stat!

25% vs 52% from 3

34 vs 52 % FG's

0 vs 8 blocks!!!

It is amazing this was only a 9 point loss.  Speaks volumes to the heart of these guys, but they are gonna need to find something special on Saturday against cocky's bully ball.  Would it be bad of me to hope that usc starting 5 get sick saturday morning?

Pearl did put Cole "SlawDaddy" Blackstock in to try and bump around the Arky freshman that was going off down low.

[tigeraddikt 1,615]

24 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

this has puzzled me.  i know our walk-on's drop off in talent level, but I'd have assumed they could could give some of these guys a blow coming out of timeouts for a minute or 2.  i was unable to watch the game so i dont know the flow, but it would seem a warm body on the floor for 2-3 minute per scholarship player would be worthwhile.

i know that spencer had a couple of bad fouls called on him (per the thread) but 5 fouls in 12 minutes?  dunbar with 4 TO in 15 minutes?

25 fouls on our 8 rotation players and 20 fouls on their 10?  We did turn those 20 fouls into 31-34 for 91.2% at the FT line.  That is a crazy stat!

25% vs 52% from 3

34 vs 52 % FG's

0 vs 8 blocks!!!

It is amazing this was only a 9 point loss.  Speaks volumes to the heart of these guys, but they are gonna need to find something special on Saturday against cocky's bully ball.  Would it be bad of me to hope that usc starting 5 get sick saturday morning?

Dunbar is a Bowers-like bull in a china shop; he shouldn't be playing as many mins as he is, but it is out of necessity. His minutes just about hurt us as much as they help us (to be fair, he's good for a 3 ptr per game; a dunk/putback per game; a couple of missed FTs per game, a charge per game; and a dumb turnover per game). I love his energy, but his most important role is that of a role player/embedded cheerleader. Mitchell hasn't yet grown into a savvy SEC player yet. He works very hard and will be VERY good, but he's not there mentally yet, so his increased minutes have hurt us IMO with turnovers. Okeke will also be all-world, but he's also been put into a position that is a bit much for him (although he has been the most consistent newcomer this year). This is a thin, gassed team that is playing its heart out. Performances like the last 2 games are disgusting, disappointing, and disheartening, but this same group has made huge leaps since tanking in 2nd halves of games all last year in conference play. No reason to think they won't continue to make strides moving to next year. Also, to end on a positive note about this year's team, Heron has the ability to go 2003 Marquis Daniels in the NCAAs and carry this team for 2-4 wins. Don't know if it can happen without complementary height/depth, but we're gonna find out in a couple weeks.

EDIT: Mr. Moustache, this wasn't intended to be another reply to your post, sorry about that!

[autigeremt 6,651]

The loss of McClemore caught up with us over this 9 day stretch. These kids are tired and the 3 days between games will be beneficial. We take care of the SEC at home on Saturday.

[around4ever 4,139]

13 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

The loss of McClemore caught up with us over this 9 day stretch. These kids are tired and the 3 days between games will be beneficial. We take care of the SEC at home on Saturday.

This combination along with Brown not being 100% (shoulder and ankle) is what has cost us the last three losses.  There are a couple of guys who shouldn't be getting the minutes they are getting but we have to play them.  Harper and Heron are worn out.  Weak legs cause the 3 point misses.  Last night, Spencer and Okeke were no where close to being prepared to defend Gafford.  You also have to give Arky credit for their emotion and shooting.  For us to be as close as we were is a tribute to no quit attitude of this team. 

[fishepa 1,906]

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.

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

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.