Fun night of basketball in Atlanta. Our fan base is everywhere down here and were absolutely a factor in the game. I thought we looked excited/nervous early, just played bad basketball in the middle portion of the game, and finally had that explosion that we got so used to I'm December and January. When the situation became dire, Auburn, both players and fans, responded and came out with a huge win.
I am unsure if we played fantastic defense last night or if Michigan is just bad. Probably a bit of both, but man they slung the ball all over the place. We did a great job with Tre and Golden and adjusted to pretty much eliminate Wolf down the stretch. Hard to believe this team outrebounded A&M, but we hammered them on the glass. Matchups sometimes are everything. Holding them to 65 is certainly acceptable.
Our offense was bad pretty much the whole game. The ball stuck way too much and we never forced the defense to move. I think the staff gave our guys way too much freedom in the offense and would probably like to see more structured sets tomorrow. Freedom in basketball is only a good thing if the ball is moving, but Bruce typically let's them go. Even on our run, we did not run great offense. Just saw individual players make great basketball plays. Auburn will need the offense to create more if were going to win it all. We did finally run in transition and we were comically awful. Way too much dribbling and lots of opportunities blown that could have put Michigan away. That needs to be cleaned up.
Backs against the wall, down 9, and Tahaad hits a contested three. Next trip he drives baseline and kicks to Denver (finally a kickout 3) and he blows the lid off the goal and we are off to the races. It was good to see that gear and emotion from our kids again. Gym going nuts, team going nuts...this is what we came to see. Side note, I cannot fathom letting a kid leave the locker room early by himself to shoot, but Tahaad came out there and lined his shot up and it may have saved our ass. This is where Bruce's freedom is so great.
Michigan State is better than Michigan, but they're not better than us. And probably not better than Ole Miss either for that matter. They aren't going to give the ball away or beat themselves, though. They will force us to make plays against solid defense. They absolutely will not double in the post so maybe look for Johni to have a big game and we NEED Chad to be on the floor creating. Can't afford for him and Miles to not put points on the board. We need one game in front of a packed Auburn house to get to the Final Four. War Eagle!
I am unsure if we played fantastic defense last night or if Michigan is just bad. Probably a bit of both, but man they slung the ball all over the place. We did a great job with Tre and Golden and adjusted to pretty much eliminate Wolf down the stretch. Hard to believe this team outrebounded A&M, but we hammered them on the glass. Matchups sometimes are everything. Holding them to 65 is certainly acceptable.
Our offense was bad pretty much the whole game. The ball stuck way too much and we never forced the defense to move. I think the staff gave our guys way too much freedom in the offense and would probably like to see more structured sets tomorrow. Freedom in basketball is only a good thing if the ball is moving, but Bruce typically let's them go. Even on our run, we did not run great offense. Just saw individual players make great basketball plays. Auburn will need the offense to create more if were going to win it all. We did finally run in transition and we were comically awful. Way too much dribbling and lots of opportunities blown that could have put Michigan away. That needs to be cleaned up.
Backs against the wall, down 9, and Tahaad hits a contested three. Next trip he drives baseline and kicks to Denver (finally a kickout 3) and he blows the lid off the goal and we are off to the races. It was good to see that gear and emotion from our kids again. Gym going nuts, team going nuts...this is what we came to see. Side note, I cannot fathom letting a kid leave the locker room early by himself to shoot, but Tahaad came out there and lined his shot up and it may have saved our ass. This is where Bruce's freedom is so great.
Michigan State is better than Michigan, but they're not better than us. And probably not better than Ole Miss either for that matter. They aren't going to give the ball away or beat themselves, though. They will force us to make plays against solid defense. They absolutely will not double in the post so maybe look for Johni to have a big game and we NEED Chad to be on the floor creating. Can't afford for him and Miles to not put points on the board. We need one game in front of a packed Auburn house to get to the Final Four. War Eagle!
