1. Thank goodness we made our 3s today because we were not good from the line. Granted a lot of them were good looks, so I definitely think we should have shot somewhere north of 40% from 3, it's difficult to maintain 63% from there. Helped make up for what should have been an extra 6 points or so we probably should have gotten from the line.
2. Refs called it very tight today. I think it played to Auburn's advantage because they are the more athletic team, so naturally they're more aggressive and better at getting to the basket. I think this played a big factor in the 1st half as we were not as aggressive as Auburn, so they shot a lot more FTs than us. Credit the guys for making the adjustment at the half because we got into the bonus quickly in the second half by being more aggressive.
3. Man our defense is just not good right now. Obviously there's been a lot of complaints about our perimeter defense and switching on ball screens, but how many open layups did Auburn get today? I mean they had to have had a good 25 points in the first half alone on FTs and uncontested layups. I'm not sure what the answer is here, but if we can't defend the perimeter and we give up several open layups, what can we do defensively?
4. Shaun Smith came up with 7 important minutes today. 5 points, a rebound, and no turnovers is huge from him in 7 minutes. That 3 he made in the first half was very important to help us "buy some minutes" for our regulars, especially considering that at the time he hit it, Bost, Hood, and Moultrie were all on the bench.
5. How on Earth does your senior PG who is the captain foul out with 5 minutes to play on a 3 point shot? That absolutely baffled me that Bost would pick up such a critical foul in that situation. Thank goodness we were able to hold on because I feel this game would have been on his shoulders had we lost in the end with him fouling out in such a poor manner.
6. That being said, we weren't great offensively late in the game without Dee, but we were better than I thought we'd be, and I really gained confidence in Bryant at PG today. Granted I think other guards in the SEC could give him more trouble bringing the ball up the floor than Auburn did, but I still have to give him kudos because he played a solid game, picked up 9 assists to ZERO turnovers (huge stat), and led us to a win. I think this could be a huge point going forward with so much uncertainty around Deville.
Overall, not a great performance, but it was a win and one we had to have. Hopefully we'll play better on Thursday with the Bears coming to town.
2. Refs called it very tight today. I think it played to Auburn's advantage because they are the more athletic team, so naturally they're more aggressive and better at getting to the basket. I think this played a big factor in the 1st half as we were not as aggressive as Auburn, so they shot a lot more FTs than us. Credit the guys for making the adjustment at the half because we got into the bonus quickly in the second half by being more aggressive.
3. Man our defense is just not good right now. Obviously there's been a lot of complaints about our perimeter defense and switching on ball screens, but how many open layups did Auburn get today? I mean they had to have had a good 25 points in the first half alone on FTs and uncontested layups. I'm not sure what the answer is here, but if we can't defend the perimeter and we give up several open layups, what can we do defensively?
4. Shaun Smith came up with 7 important minutes today. 5 points, a rebound, and no turnovers is huge from him in 7 minutes. That 3 he made in the first half was very important to help us "buy some minutes" for our regulars, especially considering that at the time he hit it, Bost, Hood, and Moultrie were all on the bench.
5. How on Earth does your senior PG who is the captain foul out with 5 minutes to play on a 3 point shot? That absolutely baffled me that Bost would pick up such a critical foul in that situation. Thank goodness we were able to hold on because I feel this game would have been on his shoulders had we lost in the end with him fouling out in such a poor manner.
6. That being said, we weren't great offensively late in the game without Dee, but we were better than I thought we'd be, and I really gained confidence in Bryant at PG today. Granted I think other guards in the SEC could give him more trouble bringing the ball up the floor than Auburn did, but I still have to give him kudos because he played a solid game, picked up 9 assists to ZERO turnovers (huge stat), and led us to a win. I think this could be a huge point going forward with so much uncertainty around Deville.
Overall, not a great performance, but it was a win and one we had to have. Hopefully we'll play better on Thursday with the Bears coming to town.
