Tonight's Game

[Tarheel]

I hope you locals will keep us posted on the game tonight; I'm sure that I won't be able to find it on tv anywhere (I'll be watching the Tarheels assuming I can find that game...had some problems with it last night but the score looked like an NBA game 115 to 70).

Anyway, maybe we'll win another one...guarded optimism rules.

I think that Saniflush set the tone with guarded optimism.  I need something to console me after this rotten political season.

Glad to see that we won another one anyway...on to playing BETHUNE-COOKMAN tomorrow...whoever the fuck they are!

[Saniflush]

http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/122770359957760.xml&coll=2

Auburn basketball team beats Bethune-Cookman
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
CHARLES GOLDBERG
News staff writer

AUBURN - Jeff Lebo shrugged off Tuesday's basketball yawner in Beard-Eaves.

``Your leading scorer didn't score and you win by 15," Lebo said."

The best thing I can say about that is it was a `W.'"

The less said about Auburn's 61-46 victory over Bethune-Cookman may be for the best. Tay Waller, who came in scoring a team-best 18.3 points per game, missed on six 3-point attempts and didn't score.

``Actually, he got some of his better looks of the year. Maybe they should have guarded him better," Lebo said.

Waller's fellow long-range shooter, Frankie Sullivan, hit two 3-pointers and finished with six points in front of an announced crowd of 3,254.

Auburn, perhaps resting up for consecutive games against Dayton and Northern Iowa in Chicago over the weekend, improved to 3-1.

Bethune-Cookman fell to 1-3.

``Defensively, we were good enough. Offensively, we shot the ball very poorly," Lebo said. ``They played five guards on us. We had a hard time with their spread. They made us defend the whole shot clock.

We didn't have as many possessions as we'd like."

Auburn attempted 43 shots, which wasn't far off from the 50 it tried against George Washington last Saturday. But the Tigers also attempted 14 fewer free throws.

Waller and Sullivan didn't score much, but the Tigers were still led by guards. DeWayne Reed led Auburn with 14 points.

Quantez Robertson scored 12. Bethune-Cookman was led by Jarrell Thomas with 16 points.

Auburn did get in some work for forward Rasheem Barrett, who played sparingly in the first game and missed the last two because of a groin injury. He didn't score in seven minutes of work.

``He's not in game shape yet," Lebo said. ``He's missed almost every practice. You can see he's still a little out of sync out there. He just needs more practice time."

Auburn, which played two on-campus games in the Chicago Invitational, will actually play in the Windy City on Friday night against Dayton.

The Tigers play Northern Illinois on Saturday.

[Rancid Milk]

Well, this thread could be used generically, so I'll use it for tonight's latest episode of "Groundhog Day".

One point loss to Dayton in which we make a scintillating 12 of 26 from the FT line, yet make one that we need to miss late in the game...bleah.

[Snaggletiger]

Groundhog Day is correct.  No deep analysis here.  Lebo either turns it around and makes the Big Dance or he needs to go. 

[Tarheel]

Sorry about the generic thread guys in regards to a specific game.  I'll be more specific in the future.  Thanks for posting the article Sani.

[Rancid Milk]

Sorry about the generic thread guys in regards to a specific game.  I'll be more specific in the future.  Thanks for posting the article Sani.

Actually, Tarheel, this will work pretty well...assuming that people know when our games are.

Northern Iowa = another clunker.

This might be the shittiest stretch of AU sports I've ever seen...looking for a football coach, basketball looks to be the same crap as always...dammit.

[Thrilla]

Lost to the undefeated Xavier Musketeers last night, 81-74.  Apparently we were in the running moreso than out of it, and forced them to turn the ball over to us 22 times.

Kind of sucks when the opponent shoots .565 from the arch, however.

[Saniflush]

Lost to the undefeated Xavier Musketeers last night, 81-74.  Apparently we were in the running moreso than out of it, and forced them to turn the ball over to us 22 times.

Kind of sucks when the opponent shoots .565 from the arch, however.

SHIT!  When does baseball swimming gymnastics track and field Spring football equestrian season start?

[Thrilla]

SHIT!  When does baseball swimming gymnastics track and field Spring football equestrian season start?

You don't know how close I was to putting a smartass comment about lacrosse at the end of that last post.  Great minds and all that.

[Saniflush]

You don't know how close I was to putting a smartass comment about lacrosse at the end of that last post.  Great minds and all that.

Yes.  We rock.

[Tarheel]

Actually, Tarheel, this will work pretty well...assuming that people know when our games are.

Northern Iowa = another clunker.

This might be the shittiest stretch of AU sports I've ever seen...looking for a football coach, basketball looks to be the same crap as always...dammit.

Here's the schedule that I've been using which, unfortunately, shows the results too:

http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/aub-m-baskbl-sched.html

Lost to the undefeated Xavier Musketeers last night, 81-74.  Apparently we were in the running moreso than out of it, and forced them to turn the ball over to us 22 times.

Kind of sucks when the opponent shoots .565 from the arch, however.

As much as I hate to type it I was not expecting a win against Xavier however from what I have gathered we played very well against them, just not well enough...that old saying about horse shoes and hand-grenades comes to mind.

It's on to playing Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.

As much as I enjoy college hoops I have GOT to get down to a weekend game one of these days!

[Saniflush]

As much as I enjoy college hoops I have GOT to get down to a weekend game one of these days!

maybe we will go when the mouth breathers come to town.  We seem to win then.

[Thrilla]

maybe we will go when the mouth breathers come to town.  We seem to win then.

This sounds both dangerous AND exciting.  Perhaps the next TigersX gathering will be at Beard-Eaves...

[Rancid Milk]

I was being somewhat facetious with the "knowing when the team plays" comment...more of a statement on the generally poor attendance that Auburn basketball has been plagued with for the majority of the last 20 years.

This may be the first time in a while that both football and basketball have had shitty seasons at the same time...at least after the '98 football season, the basketball team went on their run to the regular season SEC title and Sweet Sixteen.

[wesfau2]

This sounds both dangerous AND exciting.  Perhaps the next TigersX gathering will be at Beard-Eaves...

I'm intrigued.

Tell me more.

[Pell City Tiger]

The Auburn mens team beat ULM 78-55 this afternoon to improve to 4-4.

Defense Sparks Auburn in Victory Vs. Warhawks

By Mark Murphy
Inside the Auburn Tigers
Posted Dec 6, 2008
   
Auburn, Ala.--The Tigers have laid enough bricks at the foul line this season to qualify to become masonry experts. That trend continued Saturday, but Jeff Lebo’s team didn’t suffer a fourth straight loss due to strong defensive play and solid shooting from the field.

Auburn forced 29 turnovers from Louisiana-Monroe as the Tigers cruised to a 78-55 victory on Saturday at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

Quantez Robertson finished the game with five steals as Auburn improved its record to 4-4 vs. the now 2-4 Warhawks. Lucas Hargrove contributed to the defense with four steals and plenty of hustle. Newcomers at guard, Tay Waller and Frankie Sullivan, each had three steals.

The Tigers made just 12-26 free throws. Hargrove was the worst offender with four misses on seven free throws. As a team the Tigers’ 46.2 percent free throwing shooting total was below the 48.4 percent the team shot from the field.

“Foul shooting has cost us,” Lebo said. “That is frustrating as a coach. I think we beat Dayton if we shoot a normal percentage. Mercer the same way--we fouled them too much so the foul line has really hurt.”

Despite the free throw shooting woes, the coach said he believes the Tigers are improving. “I think progress is being made,” the coach stated. “Again, we have got a lot new faces. (Brendon) Knox and (Johnnie) Lett are guys that we really have to bring along.”

Lett started, but played just 13 minutes, and finished the game with six rebounds and no points. He was 0-3 from the field.

Knox was 2-2 from the field and scored four points and added three rebounds in 10 minutes.

Korvotney Barber was Auburn’s inside scoring threat vs. the Warhawks. The senior made 8-11 field goals and led the Tigers with 18 points and six rebounds.

Waller scored 15 for the Tigers, making 3-6 threes and 5-8 from the field. DeWayne Reed added 14 points and four assists as the point guard.

“Today’s game was all about execution and defense,” said Reed, who noted the Tigers had been working on their offensive sets in practice this week.

“It felt good to get win,” he said as the Tigers ended their three-game losing streak. “We had close games. We are playing hard.”

Hargrove was the other Tiger to score in double figures. He finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists. Reed said that Hargrove’s energy on the defensive end of the floor got his teammates energized.

Lebo said he liked what he saw from the Hargrove, pointing out the junior hadn’t played well in recent games.

“I thought defensively, we were pretty good tonight forcing 29 turnovers,” said Lebo, who put a dozen players on the court. “Everybody got a chance to play a little bit.”

The Tigers took the lead for good at the 8:56 mark of the first half on a layup by Barber to put Auburn up 21-19. Auburn steadily stretched its lead as the Warhawks had difficulty scoring.

The lead mushroomed into double figures at the 5:08 mark when Waller nailed a three-pointer. By halftime the Tigers were up 40-26.

The Tigers hit 42.4 percent of their first half shots to 40 percent for ULM. Waller led the Tigers in scoring at the break with 11 and Reed was next with 10.

Malcolm Thomas of the Warhawks was impressive in the first 20 minutes. He hit 7-10 field goals, including 4-6 threes, and had 18 points at the break.

“The first half, the kid Thomas was phenomenal,” Lebo said. “He made some tough shots. He had 18 points and I don’t think he had a point in the second half. He was the one guy in the first half who just kept them alive. We made him a priority defensively to make him put it on the floor (dribble) a little bit more.”

The big difference statistically in the first half was Auburn having eight turnovers to 16 for the visitors.

The Tigers were cruising until midway through the second half when the Warhawks began a run and cut the lead to 58-48 with 8:54 left, but that was as close as they would get. By the 3:37 mark a dunk by Knox stretched the Auburn advantage to 71-50.

Auburn finished with a 38-35 rebounding edge and hit 6-21 threes while ULM was 8-21 on threes.

The Tigers have a break until they play at home On Dec. 17th vs. Tuskegee.