Stop me if you've heard this one before: Auburn took on a more-talented, NCAA-bound opponent in Beard-Eaves last night and scrapped for the 40 full minutes. They held the visiting Florida Gators to 5-23 shooting from beyond the arc, 40 percent from the field overall, and a miniscule .85 points-per-possession, a huge (take my word on this) drop from the Gators' average of 1.11 PPP (a mark tied for seventh in the nation). Auburn also committed four fewer turnovers and equaled the Gators on the offensive glass. After falling behind by as many as 10 points in the first half, Auburn battled back to take a second-half lead.
But they lost, 68-65, because aside from Korvotney Barber, Auburn simply cannot shoot. They were even worse from outside than Florida, finishing 5-of-27 for 19 percent--and they hit the final two threes they took. They went 10-of-21 from the free throw line, Quantez Robertson finishing an astonishing 0-6. Barber went 7-of-9, but the lack of cohesive sets on offense--only 36 percent of Auburn's baskets were assisted, some 20 percentage points below their season average--and inability to loosen the Gator defense with outside shots meant that three different guards--DeWayne Reed, Tay Waller, and Rasheem Barett--took more shots than Barber. .85 points-per-possession is bad, but .83 is even worse.
And so Auburn fell to 0-2 in the SEC with a road swing to Kentucky and Arkansas on tap next week that should, on paper, drop Auburn to either 1-4 or 1-5 pending Saturday's home date with Alabama. What's so depressing is that all of this, every word of this post, was completely predictable the day the season started. So it goes.
9 comments:
Your right completely predictable!!! I wonder why the school is spending millions of dollars for a new arena for this crap.
60 full minutes?
Didn't realize the game went into 4 OT! I'm considering this season the Jeff Lebo farewell tour.
Ugh!!!
Uh, yeah, 40 minutes. I guess the transition from football season to basketball season has been rougher than I thought.
.....The basketball follies are easier to take, by far. We've always struggled to make 50 percent of our free throws in the Lebo Era. Why should this year be any different?
.....I certainly didn't see our football doom coming, though, and that made it extra-painful!
(semi)serious question: If we just drop mens BBall all together can we get those scholarships added to the football program?
I still haven't figured out which is worse: the predictable, consistent, enduring dull pain of Auburn basketball on a yearly basis or the sharp, stabbing, out-of-nowhere pain of the Season of DEATH.
I guess it depends what day it is.
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