Thread by @isaiahCHILLkins

HERE IT IS!! A thread on Auburn, who we face in the #FinalFour on Saturday, April 6 at 6:09 p.m. EST.

Auburn has 2 *active* players who average double digit ppg: Bryce Brown (senior guard, 6’3” 198 lbs) w/ 15.8 ppg and Jared Harper (junior guard, 5’11” 175 lbs) w/ 15.2 ppg. They lost Chuma Okeke (sophomore forward, 12 ppg) to a torn ACL vs UNC. He was their highest scoring big.

Bryce Brown averages 2.1 reb, 1.9 ast, and 1.1 stl. He shoots at 43.3% from the field and 40.7% from 3. He scored 24 vs Kentucky and 25 vs Kansas. Ty should be able to get in his head and disrupt his passes, as he also averages 1.7 TO.

Jared Harper is a great matchup for Kihei (size-wise and handling-wise). He leads the teams in turnovers at 2.3. He averages 2.5 reb and 1.1 stl. He shoots 39.9% from the field and 37.5% from 3 and leads the team from the line at 82%. He’s the facilitator and averages (cont)

5.9 ast per game. If Kihei can shut him down (he can), then the entire offense will collapse.

Okeke led the team in rebounds and steals (6.8 and 1.7). Without him, the leading rebounder is Austin Wiley (4.2) and the leading stealer is Samir Doughty (1.4).

Austin Wiley (junior center, 6’11” 260) isn’t a starter, as he averages 7.1 ppg, but he leads the team in blocks with 1.3. He shoots 57.1% from the field, and about the same from the line (57.3%). He’s somebody they might put in to combat Mamadi or draw offensive fouls from Dre.

Samir Daughty (junior guard, 6’4” 195) is also not a starter, but played 33 min vs Kentucky. He averages 7.3 ppg, 3.3 reb, and 1.7 ast. He shoots 46.5% from the field, 81% from the line, and 42.6% from 3. He’ll come in to provide fresh legs for the team.

Horace Spencer (senior forward, 6’8” 225) has replaced Okeke in the starting lineup. He averages 4.4 ppg, 4.1 reb, and 0.9 blk. He shoots 46% from the field but only 56.7% from the line. The other starting forward, Anfernee McLemore (junior, 6’7” 220) averages 6.6 ppg, (cont)

3.8 reb and 1.1 blk, shooting 45% from the field and only 61.8% from the line. He can shoot from behind the arc though, at 33.3%.

The last starter is Malik Dunbar (senior guard, 6’6” 230) who averages 7 ppg and 3.2 reb. He shoots 44.2% from the field, 61.5% from the line, and 34.7% from 3.

Kihei will be on Harper, Ty on Brown, Kyle on Dunbar, Dre on McLemore, and Mamadi on Spencer. Kyle sometimes gets beat on the drive and doesn’t have to worry about fouling Dunbar. Dre and Ty could switch if we need to shut down Brown even more.

Here’s how we match up:
❌PPG: 71.8 vs 79.4*
✅REB: 34.6 vs 34.5
✅AST: 14.5 vs 14.4
❌STL: 5.6 vs 9.3*
❌BLK: 3.8 vs 4.8
✅TO: 9.0 vs 12.3
✅FG%: 47.8% vs 44.9%
✅FT%: 74.6% vs 71%
✅3P%: 40.9% vs 37.6%

✅ adv UVA
❌ adv Auburn

*remember they just lost Okeke

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW:
Nov:
✅vs S Alabama 101-58
✅vs 25 Washington 88-66
✅vs Miss. College 103-52
✅vs Xavier 88-79 OT
❌vs 1 Duke 78-72 ⚠️
✅vs Arizona 73-57
✅vs St. Peter’s 99-49

Dec:
✅vs UNC Asheville 67-41
✅vs Dayton 82-72 ⚠️
✅vs UAB 75-72 OT
❌@ NC St 78-71 ⚠️
✅vs Murray St 93-88
❌vs N Florida 95-49

Jan:
❌@ Ole Miss 82-67
✅vs UGA 93-78
✅@ Texas A&M 85-66
❌vs 12 UK 82-80
❌@ S Carolina 80-77 ⚠️
❌@ 22 Miss St 92-84
✅vs Mizzou 92-58
Feb:
✅vs Bama 84-63
✅vs Florida 76-62
❌@ 21 LSU 83-78
❌vs Ole Miss 60-55
✅@ Vandy 64-53
✅vs Ark 79-64
❌@ 4 UK 80-53
✅@ UGA 78-75

March:
✅vs Miss St 80-75
✅@ Bama 66-60
✅vs 5 Tennessee 84-80
✅vs Mizzou 81-71
✅vs S Carolina 73-64
✅vs Florida 65-62
✅vs 8 Tennessee 84-64
NCAAT
✅vs 12 NM St 78-77
✅vs 4 Kansas 89-75
✅vs 1 UNC 97-80
✅vs 2 Kentucky 77-71 OT

UVA is 2 in adjusted offense and 5 in adjusted defense. Auburn is 6 and 38. They play a similar game to Kentucky in 2015.

Here’s how they’ve fared against teams like us:
✅✅ vs Tennessee (3 O, 43 D) 84-80, 84-64
❌vs Duke (7 O, 6 D) 78-72
✅vs UNC (8 O, 15 D)
How we’ve fared against teams like them:
✅vs Purdue (4 O, 31 D) 80-75 OT
✅✅vs/@ VT (10 O, 20 D) 81-59, 64-58
✅@ Cuse (29 D) 79-53

Highlights:
SEC Championship vs Tennessee: they shoot lots of threes. Brown and Harper can’t defend the drive that well, either get beat or foul. They’re slow to get to the 3-point shooter after a drive in the lane. They’re not used to being doubled the drive. (cont)

Their energy came from Okeke (obviously they’ll all be energized in the Final Four). They have trouble getting going offensively against tough defensive teams. They have a lot of guys who can score if they need someone to step up, which is good for them because they foul a lot.

They like to push the ball so it’ll be important to get back in transition. If we control the pace we win this game. We need to be ON in our free throws because they’ll look to foul to prevent the easy bucket. Tennessee’s struggles were because of their transition buckets.