On Kevin Overton's minutes
He played backup minutes at the 1 with Tahaad, but Tahaad was still out there as the primary point guard, so the rotation will kind of stay the same that it's been over the last couple games.
On Elyjah Freeman starting
The efficiency of the lineup that we had starting for the previous seven or eight games was just not very good. So, always looking for different ways and different lineups. I kind of looked through which lineups were the best together, and the one that we have starting right now, analytically, has been really solid on both ends of the floor. I thought it showed in the LSU game.
On the defense in the first half of the first game against Alabama
That's the plan, to look at the things we did well, try and do more of those, and look at the things that they made us pay for, and try to not do those.
On bouncing back against LSU
They were great. LSU game, they bounced back -- played like they had something to play for. That's what we've got to continue to do. Had a good practice yesterday, need another good one today. Obviously need a great effort on Saturday to beat a really good team.
On the defensive effort against LSU
It was great. I thought our activity was much better. We had 11 turnovers forced in the first half. I thought that had everything to do with guys executing some of the intricacies of the scout. I thought they made a lot of plays. Tahaad had four steals in the first half. Thought we did a good job with our framing. Did a lot of things -- executed our switches. I thought we looked like we did earlier in January when we were defending at a much higher level. Got to continue to build off that.
Is Tahaad Pettiford going to help Auburn make a run?
I think it was everybody. It wasn't just Tahaad. We did a good job running our initial actions. And if we didn't have anything off that action, we got into a breakdown. That's what we did not do against Oklahoma or Ole Miss. Ultimately, it showed. I thought we just did a better job executing the details of what we were trying to do offensively. That's why we had the No. 1 offensive efficiency game of the year Tuesday. We've got to bottle some of that up and keep that moving forward -- because it obviously worked.
Elyjah Freeman's confidence
Kind of stems back to the Arkansas game, I said ‘Stop being in between and just commit to everything you do.’ There were a couple shots in the last two games where there were tough shots, but he committed to them and he made them. That’s how Elyjah has got to play. I think Elyjah, offensively, has been really good in conference play. Shown a lot of really good things and anytime he’s full speed and isn’t halfway on certain things, he can be really effective. When he plays physically offensively, he’s such a great athlete that he can rise over people and finish through contact, shooting the ball from the free-throw line well. It’s been great to see him and his progression as the year’s gone on and his confidence continues to grow. I’m glad he’s playing well right now because we’re going to continue to need him to play well over this next stretch. He’s been great. Unbelievable teammate, unbelievable player, very coachable, wants to win, he’s about all the right things. Elyjah’s been great.