Thursday, January 10, 2008

Whiteout

Update, halftime, Arkansas 37, Auburn 36

A weird sequence at the end of the half, as Reed was fouled on a breakaway as the buzzer sounded. Officials called an intentional foul, which usually results in two shots and the ball. But because there was no time left on tyhe clock, Auburn had to settle for two shots (Reed went 1-for-2) and a 1-point deficit at halftime.

Overall, it’s gone pretty much as I predicted pregame: Auburn has kept it close with hustle and jumpers, and Arkansas has tried throughout to get the ball inside, with varying degrees of success. The Hogs’ guards are settling for a lot of threes—which is what Auburn wants. Those are lower-percentage shots than the layups Arkansas’ forwards could be getting inside.

Auburn has to hope Arkansas keeps shooting and missing...and that AU can make as many as it misses.

I’ll be busy writing from here on out...I’ll have a postgame update when it’s all over.

Update, 11:58, Auburn 21, Arkansas 18

Auburn made a nice little mini-run: Frank Tolbert had a layup—on a nice look from DeWayne Reed—and then a block on the other end; an Auburn fast break set up a Rasheem Barrett 3 and gave AU a 16-13 lead.

Arkansas appeared to weather the storm: A Patrick Beverly 3 tied the game at 18. Quan Prowell had a 3-point play to give AU its current 3-point lead. Nice play by Quan, who looked to just be throwing the ball toward the basket anticipating a foul. That pays off sometimes, y’know.

Meanwhile, can we just agree to stop the “step, step, step, step, step...SIT DOWN!” cheer during opponents’ substitutions? It’s annoying and unoriginal and—maybe I’m old-fashioned—not very sportsmanlike. Give it a rest, people, and if you must heckle your opponents, try to it while the game is actually going on.

My next update will happen at halftime. Don’t get too lonely.

Update, 15:57, Auburn 9, Arkansas 9

As predicted, Auburn came out fired up and hustling on both offense and defense. Frank Tolbert made a nice play on a loose ball to preserve Auburn’s first possession, which ended on a traveling call against DeWayne Reed. AU has mostly been shooting 3-pointers and running the clock on offense. On defense, Auburn is sticking to the 1-3-1 zone it unveiled against Xavier, which—oddly—features DeWayne Reed at the bottom of the zone, bumping cutters and guarding against layups while the ball’s on the perimeter.

Arkansas has wasted no time getting the ball inside. That’s big for the Hogs, who have tended to struggle when their guards take too many shots and to succeed when their forwards are involved in the paint.

But the most entertaining sight, at least to me, is Arkansas coach John Pelphrey. Pelphrey is a great coach—he made his name as an assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida and had good success in his first head job, at South Alabama. The reason he’s so entertaining is that he looks—at least to me—as if he wouldn’t be out of place as a member of Herman’s Hermits or The Hollies or some other British Invasion band. Check it out:

Pregame

Auburn’s planned “whiteout” promotion for tonight’s game against Arkansas looks to have worked reasonably well: Almost every fan in the Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum stands appears to be wearing the white T-shirts that were draped over their seats before the game. It’d be a stretch to call it “intimidating,” but it’s a nie change from routine. The folks who aren’t wearing their free T-shirts? Well, they must really like their current apparel. Grinches, I say.

I’ll have a few updates on the game...I think it could be closer than some folks seem to be predicting, though perhaps not as close as the Los Vegas line, which I’m told has Arkansas favored by “just” 8. Auburn’s quickness should give Arkansas a few problems in the early going, but fatigue will be a problem for the Tigers, tonight and until further notice.