Yardbarker: Auburn Tigers

Auburn rolls past Alabama A&M 87-52

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:40:09 -0500

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Lucas Hargrove scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Auburn defeated Alabama A&M 87-52 on Tuesday night.

Auburn Basketball Trounces High Point 75-54

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:20:01 -0500

Auburn used a 22-2 first half run en route to trouncing High Point 75-54 in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Wednesday.Lucas Hargrove notched his second career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds to lead five Tigers who scored in double figures.

M. Basketball. Hargrove's Double-Double Leads Auburn in 75-54 Defeat of High Point

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:10:52 -0500

Auburn used a 22-2 first-half run, holding High Point to zero field goals in the final 10:51 of the first half to take a 40-18 lead into halftime and never looked back as the Tigers defeated the High Point Panthers 75-54 Wednesday night at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. Lucas Hargrove had his second career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Tigers in both categories. Full recap to follow...

SEC Basketball Preview: Auburn Tigers

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:31:19 -0500

Auburn Tigers By psychojoe 2008-2009 record: 24-12 overall, 10-6 SEC Coach: Jeff Lebo Key Losses: Kovotney Barber, Rasheem Barrett, Quantez Robertson Key Returnees: DeWayne Reed, Frankie Sullivan, Tai Waller, Lucas Hargrove Newcomers: Brandon McGee, Tony Nesmith, Kenny Gabriel, Rob Chubb, Andre Malone, Earnest Ross Auburn's emergence as the clear second best team in the west last year ...

Game Notes: NC State @ Auburn

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:20:36 -0500

NC State at Auburn Date 11/22/2009 8:15:00 PMLive StatsCheck At Gametime.TV None Team Stats

2009 Scouting Report / 2009 Game Plan
2009 Stats
2010 Roster
2010 Schedule

Auburn Offense '08-'09

Four Factors Percent Nat'l Rank eFG% 50.4 110 Turnover Rate 18.5 61 Off Reb Rate 31.7 217 FTA/FGA 37.6 147

Auburn's surprisingly successful '09 campaign (24-12, 10-6), coming as it did on the heels of a terrible '08 season (14-16, 4-12), made for one of the bigger turnarounds in college basketball. But they lost three key contributors to graduation during the off-season--most notably forward Korvotney Barber--and the early returns suggest they may be heading back to the drawing board in '09-'10.

The Tigers head to Daytona with a narrow win over Niagara and an 11-point loss to a bad Missouri State team (which they beat by 15 last year). So far, the offense has been a complete disaster: they're shooting below 42%, turning the ball over nearly 27% of the time, and rebounding less than 30% of their missed shots. Like Akron, Auburn likes to shoot lots of threes despite the fact that they don't make very many of them. They've hit more than half of their twos this season, but 41.4% of their attempts have come from outside, and they've hit less than 20% of those. Their 3FG% is certain to work its way back up eventually, but considering that they shot just 33.5% from three last year, I'm not sure the ceiling is particularly high. Might be a good idea for the Tigers to attack the rim a little more often.

Making matters worse offensively, the Tigers will be without juco transfer Kenny Gabriel, a "swingman with range," indefinitely. Their most prolific and effective three-point shooter, Tay Waller, is nursing a sore quad--his status for the weekend is in doubt. Backup PG Tony Neysmith has been limited by a bum ankle.

Starters:

DeWayne Reed (6-1, 175) -- So the team's leading scorer is back, but that's good and bad. He's taken 32 shots through two games this season. Problem is, the dude can't shoot. From anywhere. He hit 61.8% of his FTs, 44.6% of his twos, and 32.7% of his (numerous) threes last season. Those were not aberrations. He did a good job distributing from the point while keeping the turnovers down, and his quick hands spearheaded a vastly improved defense, but that 46.8 eFG is evidence that he bit off more than he could chew at the offensive end. I'm not sure Auburn has a choice in the matter, though.

Frankie Sullivan (6-1, 185) -- A three-point specialist; good steal percentage last year.

Earnest Ross (6-5, 215) -- A freshman who by the looks of it fits right into the team's three-firing vibe. Unfortunately he's off to a 37.5% start from the field and has hit just one of his six 3FGAs.

Lucas Hargrove (6-6, 205) -- He was a secondary option last season, but an effective and versatile one. Turnovers were a problem, but he rebounded well at the defensive end for a guy his size, and he shot the ball well both inside and out.

Brendon Knox (6-10, 220) -- Hit 66% of his twos in very limited playing time last season. He's an extremely light-usage guy, probably because he's a foul-prone turnover machine. That's too bad, because this team could really use a reliable low-post scorer.

Bench:

Three guys have been getting double digit minutes off the bench: Kenny Gabriel (out), Andre Malone (6-5, 202), and Johnnie Lett (6-8, 210). Malone is a freshman. Lett profiles similarly to Knox--less effective from the field but a better rebounder. Bench production looks like a serious problem for the Tigers.

Auburn Defense '08-'09

Four Factors Percent Nat'l Rank eFG% 48.0 119 Turnover Rate 23.0 42 Off Reb Rate 30.8 92 FTA/FGA 37.0 192

Auburn's '09 rebound was made possible by its defense. As John Gasaway notes in College Basketball Prospectus, "In fact no major-conference team over the past three seasons has improved its D in league play as much as Auburn did last year." They allowed 1.14 points per possession in SEC play two years ago and somehow managed to cut that down to 0.98 last year. That's insane.

Auburn D 2008 2009 Opp 2FG% 55.4 46.5 Opp 3FG% 37.5 33.5

The really odd thing is that they were undersized both years: 241st nationally in effective height in '08, 258th in '09. Jeff Lebo did more with fewer inches in 2009 than anybody in America (call him, ladies). Could be that it was a fluke.

Regardless, Auburn's D is going to make for an interesting battle of wills. They want to keep opponents out of the paint and they've done a fine job clogging the lane and making foes look to the perimeter for scoring. In each of the last two years, over 40% of their opponents' field goal attempts came from beyond the arc. Zone defense alert.

Can we get it inside the way we want to, or will we end up settling for a lot of jumpers? If we get frustrated and start heaving, this game could be a hideous low-scoring affair.

This article was originally published at http://www.BackingThePack.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

NC StateNameGPMinsPtsAstsRbdsStlsBlksTOsFG%3P%FT%Off Eff Tracy Smith 2 29.0 17.0 1.0 11.0 1.0 0.0 2.5 58.8 0.0 70.0 88.9 Dennis Horner 2 33.0 15.5 0.0 4.0 0.5 1.5 3.5 64.7 75.0 100.0 81.5 Javier Gonzalez 2 27.0 9.5 5.5 6.0 1.5 0.0 4.0 41.7 40.0 70.0 112.0 Julius Mays 2 24.5 9.0 2.0 0.5 1.0 0.0 2.0 44.4 0.0 90.9 122.5 Scott Wood 2 29.5 8.0 2.0 3.5 0.0 0.5 3.0 50.0 33.3 50.0 86.6 CJ Williams 2 29.0 4.0 1.0 5.0 1.0 0.5 1.5 40.0 0.0 0.0 73.4 Josh Davis 2 9.5 2.0 2.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 66.7 0.0 0.0 161.0 Jordan Vandenberg 2 11.0 2.5 0.5 2.5 1.0 2.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 83.3 142.8 Enrico Kufuor 2 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 DeShawn Painter 2 6.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Kaycee Obi-Gwacham 1 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Spencer Greenway00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0 Kendall Smith00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0 Johnny Thomas00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0 Richard Howell00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0

M. Basketball. Hargrove's 24 Not Enough As Auburn Falls to Missouri State, 73-62

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:13:47 -0500

Senior Lucas Hargrove had 24 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-8 from 3-point land as the Tigers fell to Missouri State 73-62 Monday night in Springfield, Mo. DeWayne Reed added 12 points in Auburn's first defeat of the season. Full recap to follow...

M. Basketball. Auburn Basketball's DeWayne Reed Wins AORTA 10th Annual Tough Two Run For Breast Cancer Awareness

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:23:41 -0500

Auburn basketball senior guard DeWayne Reed won the AORTA 10th Annual Tough Two Mile Run for Breast Cancer Awareness Saturday in Auburn with a time of 11:19, edging teammate Lucas Hargrove, who finished third with a time of 11:31. For the fourth straight year, members of the men's basketball team ran in the race and were joined by the baseball and gymnastics teams.

Yet more news of an assorted nature

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:36:00 -0500

There's actually more going on in Auburnland than just fall camp, even if fall camp is, well, fall camp. A quick rundown:Move along, nothing to see here. When Brandon Jacobs never bothered to even explain his absence from Auburn's camp the handwriting was on the wall--in, like, WAR!-headline letters--and sure enough, he's officially off to baseball. Baseball America has your details. Money graf from Bitter: Jim Callis reported today that Jacobs, a 10th-round pick by the Boston Red...

Barber Totals 17 Points and Game-High 15 Rebounds in Hershey's College All-Star Game

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:53:56 -0500

Auburn All-SEC forward Korvotney Barber recorded 17 points and a game-high 15 rebounds in only 24 minutes in the 2009 Hershey's College All-Star game at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., prior to the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four.

Korvotney Barber Named MVP At Auburn Basketball Awards Banquet

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:28:06 -0500

Senior Korvotney Barber garnered six awards and was named Most Valuable Player at the 20th annual Auburn Basketball Awards Banquet Monday at the Hotel at Auburn University.

Auburn's Korvotney Barber to Play in Hershey's College All-Star Game Friday in Detroit

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:51:34 -0500

Auburn All-SEC forward Korvotney Barber has been selected to play in the prestigious 2009 Hershey's College All-Star game to be played as part of Final Four Friday at Ford Field in Detroit at 3:30 pm Central. The game will be televised on CBS College Sports.

Auburn's One Win Away From New York With 74-55 Victory Over Tulsa In NIT Second Round

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:39:02 -0500

Rasheem Barrett scored 17 points and the Tigers cruised to a 74-55 victory over Tulsa on Friday night in the second round despite Korvotney Barber's foul trouble.

Auburn Bounces Past UT-Martin 87-82

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:30:55 -0500

DeWayne Reed scored 23 points and Quantez Robertson added 19 -- both career highs--to lead Auburn to an 87-82 victory over Tennessee-Martin in the opening round of the NIT on Wednesday night.

Auburn's Korvotney Barber Named AP All-SEC Second Team

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:40:46 -0500

Auburn senior forward Korvotney Barber, who was the only player to average a double-double in league play, was named to the AP All-SEC second-team after earning Coaches All-SEC second team honors last week.

Some Tennessee Inmates have to Wear Pink to Seperate themselves from Vol Orange

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:05:25 -0500

The Elk Valley Times is reporting on a very interesting development. Lincoln County inmates in Tennessee have to wear pink instead of orange . The inmates can all blame Nathan Childress. This bright young gentleman escaped from his guards and ran up the street and just blended in. No one called the police.

To Boldly Goâ€¦

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:38:57 -0500

Well, I was so pissed off about the Britton Colquitt situation yesterday that I was delayed in talking about the good news for the Tennessee Volunteers — namely the BasketVols earning a No 2 ranking for the first time in school history.

Beware of Gold Teeth?

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:07:02 -0500

Once during the class the professor asked everyone in the room to identify some stereotypes that society often makes, and people who defy those stereotypes. CJ Black responded by yelling at the top of his lungs: "Everybody from Memphis got gold teeth! And it's the truth!!!"