South Carolina

[arktiger1975 1,069]

I did a quick glance at some of their numbers:

Best win: 91-88 in OT at home vs Clemson 

Bad loss: 71-74 at home vs North Florida 

Strength:

Seem to be solid defensively, especially defending the 3.

Weakness:

Shooting percentages are really poor. Only shooting in the low 30's from 3, and only 69% from the free throw line.

They have pretty much broken even in rebounding and turnover margin, so neutral there 

There overall numbers and scores would seem to indicate that they are a bottom 2 SEC team, along with LSU. Still, their win over a solid Clemson team shows that they shouldn't be taken lightly. 

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,971]

I will say, we’ve gotten a dreamlike start to SEC play

[AUSCalum87 713]

11 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I will say, we’ve gotten a dreamlike start to SEC play

Agree! Our January schedule sets up perfectly for us. The two toughest games in January with MSU and UT are both at home and then having LSWho, South Carolina and UGAly as our away games along with an average Texas team, and it couldn’t have been as ideal to start SEC play than this. It’s why I will be very disappointed if we aren’t 6-1 at least, but should be 7-0 heading into February.

Edited Thursday at 04:52 PM by AUSCalum87

[gravejd 3,456]

Great chance for another SEC road win. Our defense should be able to shut them down. If AU is shooting well this isn't close. 

[Sani-Freeze 556]

I'll be there (as long as they sand/brine I-20 Sat. morning). It's easier to go to the away games than home these days. 

[aubcali 573]

1 hour ago, Sani-Freeze said:

I'll be there (as long as they sand/brine I-20 Sat. morning). It's easier to go to the away games than home these days. 

Have fun and be careful!!!   

[81spacetiger 449]

9 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

Agree! Our January schedule sets up perfectly for us. The two toughest games in January with MSU and UT are both at home and then having LSWho, South Carolina and UGAly as our away games along with an average Texas team, and it couldn’t have been as ideal to start SEC play than this. It’s why I will be very disappointed if we aren’t 6-1 at least, but should be 7-0 heading into February.

Agree.  We get to ease into the conference play with some challenging games sprinkled in.  I'm going to the MSU game, so I'm expecting a tough one at home.

[AUSCalum87 713]

I didn’t know where to post this so I thought it could be relevant in this thread just in case we have one of our trademark meltdowns in the second half against South Carolina, which I really hope doesn’t happen.
 

So I just read an article on Pearl’s comments about our tendency to let teams back in the game and the lead that almost vanished against Texas and I have to say, it didn’t make me feel too confident that he’s going to adjust anything. He basically said when we are up by more than 20 he feels like there’s no way the other team will come back and win and that sometimes leads to laziness and mistakes. He said against Texas there were some self inflicted errors along with Texas playing great down the stretch. These comments concern me. It’s basically what I thought his philosophy is: get up big and then hold on for the lead and we should win. That’s why so many teams cut the lead significantly late in the second half for the past few years against us, because the team is coached to just take their feet off the gas. This is one of the coaching techniques of Pearl that I really just disagree with him on.

Edited Friday at 08:54 PM by AUSCalum87

[AUINSY 2,679]

Sounds like Bruce spent too much time with Gus 😂 Which is too bad, b/c this team has the potential to be an all-time great, and not just at Auburn. 

Edited Friday at 07:33 PM by AUINSY

[AUBldr 193]

20 hours ago, Sani-Freeze said:

I'll be there (as long as they sand/brine I-20 Sat. morning). It's easier to go to the away games than home these days. 

 No kidding. If you would have told me 20 years ago that a ticket to an Auburn Basketball home game would be one of the toughest tickets in collegiate sports, I would have thought you were a crazy person. 

[gravejd 3,456]

The article that is likely being referenced regarding the recent late game play. https://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/2025/01/what-bruce-pearl-said-about-texas-late-run-against-auburn-mens-basketball.html

For folks who what to read the comments themselves.

[KansasTiger 3,876]

39 minutes ago, AUSCalum87 said:

I didn’t know where to post this so I thought it could be relevant in this thread just in case we have one of our trademark meltdowns in the second half against South Carolina, which I really hope doesn’t happen.
 

So I just read an article on Pearl’s comments about our tendency to let teams back in the game and the lead that almost vanished against Texas and I have to say, it didn’t make me feel to confident that he’s going to adjust anything. He basically said when we are up by more than 20 he feels like there’s no way the other team will come back and win and that sometimes leads to laziness and mistakes. He said against Texas there were some self inflicted errors along with Texas playing great down the stretch. These comments concern me. It’s basically what I thought his philosophy is: get up big and then hold on for the lead and we should win. That’s why so many teams cut the lead significantly late in the second half for the past few years against us, because the team is coached to just take their feet off the gas. This is one of the coaching techniques of Pearl that I really just disagree with him on.

Don't you know where BP has brought this program?? We should just be grateful for where he has taken us. I remember watching basketball during the old stone age when we won twice a year and no one was in the forum but me and Golf's father. Rabble Rabble Rabble. /Sarcasm

Just preempting the comments you'll hear when you levy ANY criticism at BP (if the posters are consistent).

BP has never been too high on discipline. or shot selection. We have a great team this year, don't get me wrong. But I didn't magically forget how BP botched handling CBM's obvious behavior issues last year, or how his teams played when led by WG and KD (2 years straight of low basketball IQ, ISO hero ball play). 

He has seemed to improve slightly on his guard talent evaluations the last few years.

[AUSCalum87 713]

31 minutes ago, gravejd said:

The article that is likely being referenced regarding the recent late game play. https://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/2025/01/what-bruce-pearl-said-about-texas-late-run-against-auburn-mens-basketball.html

For folks who what to read the comments themselves.

This wasn’t the article I read, it was from Rivals, but this basically is what he said.

[e808 4,138]

26 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Don't you know where BP has brought this program?? We should just be grateful for where he has taken us. I remember watching basketball during the old stone age when we won twice a year and no one was in the forum but me and Golf's father. Rabble Rabble Rabble. /Sarcasm

Just preempting the comments you'll hear when you levy ANY criticism at BP (if the posters are consistent).

BP has never been too high on discipline. or shot selection. We have a great team this year, don't get me wrong. But I didn't magically forget how BP botched handling CBM's obvious behavior issues last year, or how his teams played when led by WG and KD (2 years straight of low basketball IQ, ISO hero ball play). 

He has seemed to improve slightly on his guard talent evaluations the last few years.

So far all the things noted throughout the years by posters have come back to haunt Auburn in the big dance. At what point should people start believing what their eyes are watching. Not saying u because u have speaking on it but in general

[AUSCalum87 713]

1 hour ago, AUINSY said:

Sounds like Bruce spent too much time with Gus 😂 Which is too bad, b/c this team has the potential to be an all-time great, and not just at Auburn. 

Yea, again, love what Pearl has done for our program and we are lucky to have him, but his philosophy of not running up the score has come back to bite us many times in the past and it’s frustrating to watch. For most games we are up big in the second half, I am just waiting for one of our big lulls where our team forgets how to play basketball and allows the team to make it interesting and what should have been a relaxing and uneventful las few minutes of the game turns into anger and concern hoping we don’t blow the lead.

[fishepa 2,372]

Typically when we have a good size lead someone make a dumbass play or decision that immediately turns the momentum in the other direction.  Seen it many times.

[AUSCalum87 713]

49 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Don't you know where BP has brought this program?? We should just be grateful for where he has taken us. I remember watching basketball during the old stone age when we won twice a year and no one was in the forum but me and Golf's father. Rabble Rabble Rabble. /Sarcasm

Just preempting the comments you'll hear when you levy ANY criticism at BP (if the posters are consistent).

BP has never been too high on discipline. or shot selection. We have a great team this year, don't get me wrong. But I didn't magically forget how BP botched handling CBM's obvious behavior issues last year, or how his teams played when led by WG and KD (2 years straight of low basketball IQ, ISO hero ball play). 

He has seemed to improve slightly on his guard talent evaluations the last few years.

Yea, it’s a common theme for fans in general to get real sensitive about a coach they deem untouchable when someone makes valid criticisms. I’ve never been that way. As you pointed out, there are many coaching decisions that have more than likely hindered us from being better than we have been, especially when it comes to postseason. He allows his players to play hero ball and let their emotions get the best of them. There was no reason it should have taken a year for CBM to get his attitude in check for instance and there’s no reason that Broome is constantly complaining to refs. Pearl needs to tell him that he’s the coach and he will talk with the refs and that Broome needs to just be quite and focus on the next play. 

As for the guard position, it appears that has been a miss for the last few years besides Denver and Pettiford. Pegues is a huge disappointment and the ones you mentioned were not SEC caliber guards. It’s why I think we haven’t been able to make it the second weekend in the tournament as well, they get overmatched by better guard play.
 

So yea, Pearl has been great for us and can’t believe the success we’ve had with him, but at the same time he makes decisions that are frustrating and concerning like basically saying it’s a team philosophy and attitude that if we are up big, we will win, so no reason to really try anymore. That one is the more bothersome to me than anything, because that has hurt many times in the past, most recently almost with Texas, and will continue to be an issue unless he understands that’s not a winning strategy. 

Edited Friday at 08:58 PM by AUSCalum87

[AUSCalum87 713]

16 minutes ago, fishepa said:

Typically when we have a good size lead someone make a dumbass play or decision that immediately turns the momentum in the other direction.  Seen it many times.

That’s the thing that drives me crazy. For most teams, when they are up by 14 or more points with about 11 minutes left in the game, it either stays around that range or the lead grows and there’s no big come back. For us, you can almost pinpoint for the most part when we are about to give up a huge lead and sweat out the last few minutes hoping that our team can hold on. It’s frustrating to me because this is preventable. This has nothing to do with the other team out scheming us or having better players. This is just an attitude that permeates throughout the team that when are up big, time to call it a night. 
 

If I was the coach, if we are up by like 18 with 11 minutes left and the last two offensive possessions have been a turnover and missed shot while the other team has made 2 baskets in a row, I’m calling a timeout right then to stop any type of momentum. Pearl for the most part just lets it drag out until the team has cut it to single digits and then calls timeout. Again, all of these issues are preventable. If I see a player who’s not playing 100% on offense or defense, trying to play hero ball or anything else that’s disrupting the game for us, I’d sit them for a couple of minutes to get their head back into the game. But again, it’s something you have to accept as an Auburn basketball fan. You have to know that for most games when we are up double digits that our team will get lazy and complacent and the last few minutes of the game will be stressful for no reason.

[gravejd 3,456]

The front court matchups will be interesting in this one after the Texas game. Bowles and Pringle are more athletic types versus back you up to the basket. They both move well and could be tough matchups for our bigs. Neither has much of a 3 pt shot usually so maybe we don’t have to worry about them going of for 34 like Kaluma did. 

[AUBldr 193]

You guys do realize that this is a game played by a bunch of young men that have been told how great they are for most of their young lives? Right? Sometimes, no matter how well you coach them, kids are going to do dumb stuff over and over. I’m not saying that BP is infallible but some of this criticism comes off as though you live in a vacuum and give no thought to the fact that young people don’t always do what they are told to do. I’m not buying that Bruce doesn’t tell these kids that they are undisciplined at times. I wouldn’t trade Pearl for ANY other coach in college at the moment. He’s the right guy for the job at the right time and I am enjoying the ride. 

[KansasTiger 3,876]

24 minutes ago, AUBldr said:

I wouldn’t trade Pearl for ANY other coach in college at the moment. He’s the right guy for the job at the right time and I am enjoying the ride. 

No one said he wasn't the right guy or that we wanted him replaced. Take a breath.

I could see he didn't deal with CBM's behavior issues last year with my own eyes. By the fact that he didn't sit him any meaningful minutes despite his behavior never improving. And by how his initial reaction was to lash out at fans after the Yale loss for being upset with CBM even though he was the one person who could have fixed it. 

I wouldnt trade BP for any other coach either. But he ain't perfect...

[DAG 36,511]

37 minutes ago, AUBldr said:

You guys do realize that this is a game played by a bunch of young men that have been told how great they are for most of their young lives? Right? Sometimes, no matter how well you coach them, kids are going to do dumb stuff over and over. I’m not saying that BP is infallible but some of this criticism comes off as though you live in a vacuum and give no thought to the fact that young people don’t always do what they are told to do. I’m not buying that Bruce doesn’t tell these kids that they are undisciplined at times. I wouldn’t trade Pearl for ANY other coach in college at the moment. He’s the right guy for the job at the right time and I am enjoying the ride. 

Stop. These are competitive athletes who play the game at the highest level under intense pressure and scrutiny. Most of done this their whole life at a high level throughput their adolescent. These are not “kids” and they certainly know they can’t do “dumb things over and over” and if they did, they wouldn’t be in the position that they are in. 
 

I have no dog in this fight but wanted to respond to this. This is the AAU generation. Now the NIL generation with hopes of playing at the professional level. There is little to no room for a pattern of the same mistakes. I do not think individualistically there are athletes on this team that do it. I am not so sure CBP falls under a coach who does so, but if their is a pattern (ALAS James Franklin inability to win the big game or victory against upper tier quality opponent) then that points to a culture discussion which certainly is relevant in the sports forum.

Again, not saying CBP falls under this paradigm because I don’t have the data to support it besides his quote referenced here. 

[GTNupe11 2,640]

Some of you are going to have a meltdown when we lose a game. This team is not invincible although they have the STUFF to win every game. I don't care if we are up 30. Unless the other team just GIVES UP you could win by 30 or win by 10 or lose by 2 (just like we did Iowa State when we were down 18). Basketball is a game of runs. We just happen to be on the best end of them lately. Not saying the kids give up if teams come back, but I'm sure they want to win more than anyone on this forum. 

Bruce is definitely not without criticism because he certainly deserves it from time to time and I'd rather us keep our foot on the gas when we have teams up by 15-20 with 10 minutes left in the game but you won't always keep large leads.

[AUBldr 193]

2 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

No one said he wasn't the right guy or that we wanted him replaced. Take a breath.

I could see he didn't deal with CBM's behavior issues last year with my own eyes. By the fact that he didn't sit him any meaningful minutes despite his behavior never improving. And by how his initial reaction was to lash out at fans after the Yale loss for being upset with CBM even though he was the one person who could have fixed it. 

I wouldnt trade BP for any other coach either. But he ain't perfect...

No one alive today is perfect. I wasn’t arguing that he was. I said kids will do stupid crap. If you’ve raised kids, you know they are prone to do it even in their late 20’s. Bruce is a great coach. I think some of the second guessing and bitching blaming it on Bruce not addressing it or allowing it ignores that fact. That’s it. Have a great weekend. 

[JuscAUse! 2,000]

2 hours ago, AUBldr said:

No one alive today is perfect. I wasn’t arguing that he was. I said kids will do stupid crap. If you’ve raised kids, you know they are prone to do it even in their late 20’s. Bruce is a great coach. I think some of the second guessing and bitching blaming it on Bruce not addressing it or allowing it ignores that fact. That’s it. Have a great weekend. 

Everybody's a genius. After the game. I often wonder why BP even hires coaches. He's got all the basketball gurus right here. Ok, sometimes I'm in that group, too. But I'm not at practice and I don't know or see everything. 

He's not perfect and sometimes folks make a good point. Some folks make that point ad nauseum. For all the good points made, if BP told me one thing and a few of you disagreed , I'd probably weigh his opinion a bit higher. That's just me. Everybody else can think how they want. 

War Eagle and stay warm. 

Edited Saturday at 05:38 AM by JuscAUse!