REACTION: Auburn Basketball SLAMMED by Arkansas Razorbacks

0:00Man, another tough outing for the Auburn Tigers. You are Lockdown Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Man, Auburn loses another one. They lose another one. Yes, welcome on into Lockdown Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast on your Hope Sack Blackerby. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Auburn, your first lesson every single day, dapping up with E-Daryl Dappridge Montgomery Radio Legend hanging out with us. Auburn loses another one. Daryl 88 to 75 at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks and a team, a team where Auburn was down their best score. You know, we all have different opinions on that that we will get to. Really solid scoring, not from DeHod, Petterford and Keeshawn Murphy, but that was it, Elijah

1:00Freeman got to nine, took him 10 shots to get there and they had some life late, cut it within eight, I believe, down the stretch, but at any time they had any sort of momentum, Arkansas just answered Daryl, and that's the story of this one. Yeah, you know, the first half, talking at halftime on the barncast, we were talking about how just two guys scoring for Auburn was going to get it done. And Murphy and Petterford were carrying the load. You're not going to beat a team like Arkansas on the road that limited. Some guys did come to life a little bit more in the second half, like you mentioned Freeman. Look, it's the totality of this is where we're at right now. Big picture. Okay. I don't think anybody saw this game as a win even after Auburn beat Texas, and it won five of six. I think, you know, we do that exercise where we go five in a row. And after beating Arkansas in Neville, it was going to be tough to sweep a good basketball

2:02team on the road. So from a positive aspect, this team played hard, didn't quit, battle back, was completely under manned and overmatched. They're playing with a short bench as it is. And then you're down Keeshawn Hall as well. So, you know, what do you expect? If you expected to go into this game and beat Arkansas on their home floor without your best score, it just wasn't being very realistic. You have to look at other aspects and look at big picture. How hard did they play? Did they quit? Now look, this schedule gets easier and more manageable. It's brutal that Auburn's lost what, five in a row now. It's four, I believe, four in a row, okay. So it's, that's, that's the Bama Vandy Arkansas, right? So it's not. It's not ideal. This is not good. You kind of thought you could get two of the four there. And if you get two of the four and that stretch, you're talking about a completely different feeling and vibe of this season. What are you going to do?

3:03You're going to tuck tail, cry, complain, you know, bail on this team? Five. If you want to do that, that's your option. I think what you need to do is take away from this and say, okay, it's time to have a reset on the season. It's time to recalibrate. This schedule gets more manageable. Did you get Keeshawn Hall's attention enough to where he buys in, plays harder, becomes a more focused, better version? If you do, you're fine. I mean, you can still win three or four more SEC games. If you do that, I think you're in the tournament and then see what happens. But I mean, I get it. It's frustrating, losing four in a row. But this was going to be one of those games, it's the fact that you were going to be kind of, it's going to be difficult to win anyway, full strength, right? And it's made me made more difficult with Keeshawn Hall. And then look, can we be honest and be real about this?

4:04Who are you going to beat on any given night, on their home floor when they shoot 60 percent from the field? I mean, Arkansas shot it at a really, really high field goal percentage. Is that a byproduct of Auburn, again, not playing well defensively? Or is it just an example of tip your cap, guys made shots? You're not going to beat people when they make eight or nine more field goals than you on most nights. That's true. That's true. I think there's a lot of conflicting ideas happening here. And I think there's a lot of things that aren't going well. I don't think it's just one thing. And it's so, I think it's human nature to point to one thing. Has Stephen purled in an incredible job creating mismatches and using guys efficiently? Like, I don't think he's been consistent with that at all. I also think like when you look at, okay, who could be that third score tonight on a night where you have to hot pedafer and Keeshawn Murphy keeping you in the game without

5:09Keeshawn Hall, and you look at Overton, and I think you went like one of twelve, one of thirteen, one of, got it right here, one of thirteen. That's really bad. And I mean, you said early on like he's going to be the engine that makes this thing go. And like I think tonight furthers that point. I also think there's this element of like this roster is severely limited. And I think there's a good chunk of Auburn fans that want to put that on Stephen and there's a good chunk of Auburn fans that are willing to excuse that on Stephen. To be honest, it doesn't matter, but I do think we all agree that this roster is severely limited, especially when you take Keeshawn Hall out of it. I also think there's a good chunk of people saying both sides of, okay, Auburn is not a tournament team, and they are a tournament team. And the metrics say that they are still. The metrics do not expect them to win this game. And when you look ahead to their schedule, we'll do the rest of it in a second, but they

6:12should be favorite at Mississippi State when they go there on Wednesday, probably won't be favorite when they host Kentucky, when they go to Oklahoma, when they host Ole Miss, when they host LSU, then obviously when they go to Alabama, they probably won't be. But for the, for four of the remaining six, like the analytics say that Auburn should win those games. So if you go three and three, like you can say what you want about the state of this team, but that probably does get them into the tournament. You cannot like it. You can say that that's too low, and I'm with you, like I think Auburn basketball should be at a point where their record should be more than what it will be at the end of this year. I'm not arguing against that. But there's a lot of conflicting things happening here. There was one more. It was how he handled the Keeshawn Hall thing, whatever. If you want to say like, yeah, he should have played, he's a senior, you need him, you're not teaching him anything. That's fine, whatever. I get it. I also get, you know, the argument for doing it. There's a lot of, like this is a complex situation and none of it's good, Darryl, none of it.

7:13And it's not all on one dude, not all on one player. The whole situation just kind of sucks. Well, I think you've got, man, there's a lot there to unpack at the first ball. There's like six different things at play here. Your first point to me is so very crucial that I think we all knew, at the beginning of the year, or we thought we knew where you're going to get from Keeshawn Hall, which you're going to get from Petiford. I've said all along the key to this team was finding that third dude. And if you go back and you look at games that Auburn wins, and let's not sugar code, it, Auburn's got three really, really good wins on its resume. They beat Florida at Florida, who's the best team in the SEC. They both race this same Arkansas team in Neville. And they beat St. John's on a neutral court, who I think's won nine in a row, okay? So they're capable of winning big games. If you go back and look, I think it's not a coincidence that over 10 or somebody else stepped up and had a big game as a secondary scoring, whether it's Freeman, Yovic played

8:17out of his mind against Arkansas, Neville. Remember, that was kind of his coming out party. There has got to be that third dude. And when that third dude emerges and gets into 16, 18, 20 points, Auburn typically wins. There's no way I've watched too much basketball. People can comment, can scoff at this all they want. I don't care. I'm still going to sleep eight hours tonight when my head hits the pillow. I watch too much basketball over the years and too much Auburn basketball to not think that this team isn't capable of going four and two down the stretch with that schedule. They can. They did it earlier in the year when people wrote them off after getting boat race by Michigan Arizona and Purdue. They came back after starting O and two in the conference and they won some games. They can go four and two down the stretch. That is not pie in the sky at all. It's very doable. What do you think about four and two? I think they win four and I think they'll win four there last six.

9:17I think they're going three and three, which I still think gets them to I've always said that I think they got to get to nine wins in the conference and be 500 in the SEC, but I agree with you that even if they get to eight, I think they get in the turn of it and all the metrics and all the rankings and all the projections have that because of the resume of those three really, really good wins and because of that schedule that they played. All that to say, this team was never, in my opinion. I thought their ceiling was a sweet 16. I did. I said that has been getting there. I thought that was their ceiling. If everything clicked and Hall and Peteford and the newbies came on and went off and Magwood made a difference and Bashir was able to play and not have a bum shoulder and all that kind of stuff and they misevaluated some people. They had some missy vowels on some guys that might have thought we thought they could

10:18have contributed. If that happened and that's a big if, if I thought Magwood contributed in Bashir and Walker, if those guys came off the bench and then you had your guys that you knew we're going to contribute contribute, I thought Auburn was a sweet 16 basketball team. If that didn't happen, I thought they were a bubble team and I think the truth might lie somewhere in between. This team, if they go four and two down the stretch, I don't care what they do in the SEC tournament. We've set it before. I think that that. You can steal before you get in it. If this team goes four and two down the stretch, I think there is seven or eight seat. What did you expect when the whole roster got flipped and got turned over and you lose your legendary coach? No, I mean, I think that's what we all expected before the semifatch. So yeah, I mean, just suck seeing this team get its teeth kicked in. You know, four games in a row and two of them, like you really had a shot to win it.

11:20You just didn't execute, you know, BAM on and Vandy both at home. I thought those are both winnable and I mean, BAM it is the one thing, right? Those are the ones that fell apart. Yeah, I can see the Tennessee in Arkansas games and I get it. The Tennessee game was probably, I mean, Auburn couldn't get it, couldn't get it over the hump when they got it to four. But the Alabama game was winnable and you were up 10 and you should have won and you know, the way Alabama shot the basketball late and some of the stupid things Auburn did, not switching perimeter defense was awful. That one hurts and the Vanderbilt one hurts. You've got to hold court at home. If you win those two games, you're at seven and five right now, right? In the SEC and you're probably looking at 10 wins, minimum in the SEC and maybe a six seed. So ifs and buts, I get it, but they didn't get blown out tonight and they very well could have.

12:21I mean, it felt like it at some point when it got out of hand, but you wouldn't classify this as getting blown out. I really wouldn't know. Man, it felt so much worse than 13. It did, but it was because the way Arkansas shot the ball. I mean, with what four or five minutes left didn't Auburn get it to single digits? Yeah, well, that was probably like eight-ish minutes left, got down to eight. And again, the way Arkansas shot the basketball and you really only had two guys scoring for you in the first half and you lose 13 in Fayetteville, which to me is probably one of the top three toughest places to win in the SEC. It really is. Rupp is up there, Fayette, I mean, you know, never was. It's not, I mean, it's not this year, just being honest. It's not. So all in all, I've seen some really good Auburn basketball teams going to Fayetteville and get the Thump Day team, you know, this team gets beat 13 without a leading score.

13:23Basically paying a bench of seven. I'm not into moral victories. I'm not. I don't give a crap. Like I've told you many times before, it's an upwards basketball, but also look at the total of the big picture and the big picture is this loss isn't, is devastating. I mean, what the team that was number one in the country, which Abari and Kessler didn't they get beat double digits in Fayetteville? I don't know if those double digits, but I do have the vivid memory of Musselman, you know, what happened at the end with the dunk at the end and all that. So yeah, this brutal. So all right, what do we expect moving forward? You guys drop your comments. What is Auburn's record, the rest of the way? It's a lot of Owen sixes. I don't think they'll go in six. We'll jump into that next right here, unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at indeed, hiring is not just about finding someone willing to take the job.

14:23It's about finding the right person with the right background who can actually help your business move forward and if you want candidates who match what you're looking for indeed sponsored jobs is absolutely the move because of instead of hoping the right person stumbles across your post, indeed can kind of use their algorithm and match what you're looking for with people's skills and what they are looking for as well. Listers of the show can get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status. It deserved it indeed dot com slash podcasts. It's indeed dot com slash podcast terms and conditions apply hiring do the right way with indeed. Today's show also brought to you by our friends at Mazda. This is Mazda's moving the game forward for those who show there's more to the score than what's on the screen. You want to go to hot pedifer here or Kishon Murphy, Darryl? I want to go Murphy because I think pedifer, you know, had to without Kishon on the floor was going to get more shots. You kind of expected that. Kishon Murphy was a really pleasant surprise with what yeah, 22.9 of 16.

15:28Yeah, he was, he's really a kept Auburn in it in the first half. So we put that same passion in every model highlights, make the real what it takes to get there is what makes it count. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Thank you so much for making locked out Auburn, your first listen every single day, a lot of folks saying two and four, three and three, some oh and sixes. I'm going three and three down the stretch here, Darryl, you know, at Mississippi State, we host Kentucky at Oklahoma, we host Ole Miss, we host LSD, we go to Bama. I'll say we lose to Kentucky and Bama and then one of these other teams gets us either at Starfall on Wednesday or I'll say even going to Oklahoma on Tuesday, I mean, they snuck up on Vandy a few weeks ago. So I think we'll lose the one of these teams we're not supposed to. I think we'll take down the other three. I can see us winning one of the games we're not supposed to maybe Kentucky, maybe, maybe

16:29at Alabama. I mean, I get it. Alabama beat Auburn and Neville, but they're not infallible at Coleman. They've lost some games there. They're hot right now, but they went through a streak as well. I also do, you know, thanks for the people in the comments that clarified that it felt like Auburn got beat double digits at that time in Arkansas, but it was a loss and over time. I don't remember what the score was, but it just felt like it was worse than it was, I guess, because of how it ended. So thanks for clarifying that. But yeah, I mean, again, there's been other teams though that have gone in there. They've been really good. They've gotten blown out. It's a tough place to win. I'm going to say four and two. I don't know how that configures. I don't know what combination thereof. I just think in this last six, Auburn's going to find a way to get four of them. And I think hopefully bigger picture is that Keeshawn Hall is a part of it. He's more focused. He's more styled in and he recalibrates. Yep. Yep. I think that would be great.

17:30I think that'd be great. So obviously they return to action this Wednesday. They go to Starkville in a clocktip, baby in a clocktip on a Wednesday of what we all want and love. Goodness gracious. In this gracious. Respeculation on the Keeshawn Hall situation of these final six. Does your record change if he plays all of them versus if he doesn't play all of them? What's the win lost difference? Okay. I'm going to preface this by saying it depends on how he reacts to this. If he doesn't react properly, then it could become more of a problem with him and the lineup. He doesn't play, right? That's what would happen. Hopefully. If you reinstate him and he doesn't change or doesn't learn from what happened or whatever it is that Stephen wants to see on how his response is and it becomes a detriment to the

18:30team, then it could go south in a hurry. And then at that point, you just have to sit him and it has to be addition by subtraction. If he responds to this in the right way, there's no reason why this team can't go forward to down the stretch. But it depends on how he responds. And I think you've said the key. They're going to watch to see how he responds and if it's not the response they like, or if it becomes a negative effect on this basketball team, then you have to sit in. And that's him traveling is probably a good sign also also from what we heard how he responded on the bench, how he was cheering on his teammates. How he was interacting. He was engaged. He wasn't sitting at the end of the bench, had an Italian pouting. He was cheering on his teammates. He was engaged. I get it. We don't know the whole story. We've heard bits and pieces.

19:30We've heard things that, you know, unless I could confirm it, I wouldn't want to talk about one would be more disturbing than the other. One would look like you're quitting on your teammates. But there was a verbal back and forth out of passion. That tells me that the guys like, look, I sat the last 12 minutes against Vanderbilt. We were down 10 and I can help us win. That pisses me off. Why wasn't I playing? I get that. Still can't be insubordinate to your coach, but that's a passion. I want to win. I need to be out there thing. Why are you doing this to me? That's a competitive fire thing. So we just need to know exactly, you know, confirm exactly what the situation is to understand. The fact that he was brought to Fayetteville makes it seem a little bit more encouraging to me because I think if it was that bad, they would have left him at home. Remember, people fought on a plane last year and they were left at home at some point during

20:33the season, right? So I don't know if it's such a bad thing that didn't think it was awarded him staying back in Auburn and he seemed to be engaged on the bench. Yeah, hopefully works out, hopefully works out. So folks asking about baseball, Lindsay and I are just minutes away from recording a baseball show. One staff and I get done with this live and that'll go up tomorrow morning. So we'll have to talk about the double header today. The Chris Rembert news and all of that tomorrow morning. So I'm Lindsay, just got a text from Lindsay, just got home from the ballpark. So that should be some pretty good fresh intel from him. So that'll be here tomorrow morning as Auburn baseball starts 3 and 0 with a sweep, which is great. So there are a lot of people check out everything you've got going on. Wednesdays and Fridays normally with you on Locked on Auburn. We talk a variety of issues and then obviously our lives. Yep, please like the video. Please subscribe.

21:33We'll see you next time. This has been Locked on Auburn.