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Dylan Cardwell dissects Auburn’s recent struggles, predicts ‘a statement’ game in Round 2
By Mark Kern
Published:
Dylan Cardwell and No. 1 overall seed Auburn won their first-round game against Alabama State by 20 points on Thursday, but the team was still not satisfied with their performance.
The game was very competitive late in the first half when the Hornets went to the line down 32-31. However, they missed both shots, and the Tigers went on a run to extend the lead at the half and then pulled away for the win.
Cardwell told reporters on Friday there wasn’t a sense of urgency that you need in March:
“You know, first of all, all glory to God. I’m thankful to be on this stage right now, it’s a dream come true to be here in March Madness,” Cardwell said. “But for me, it’s having a sense of urgency and not wanting our season to end, diving on the floor for loose balls, boxing out for rebounds, little things. Things you can control. We can’t control if the ball goes into the basket, but controlling our effort and energy, so making sure our effort and energy is up to par. And we want to play each and every game that way. We don’t want our season to end tomorrow or next week. I’m interested in playing April 7.”
This has continued a trend for the Tigers where they haven’t been as good recently as they were to start the season. The Tigers lost 3 of their final 4 games entering the NCAA Tournament, and Cardwell said it has been a while since the team put together a full 40 minutes.
“In this arena when we played Kentucky was, I think, one of our most complete games from start to finish,” Cardwell said. “Especially being down a man in Denver (Jones) and having to have guys step up and Miles Kelly go off for 30 as well as Chad (Baker-Mazara) going off for 20. That was our best game as of late because we guarded a team that averages 91, 92 points per game, we held them to 78 or 80. I’m not the sure.
“But we played our best defense against one of the best offenses in the country. That’s the last time I feel like I was satisfied in our effort and energy, and we haven’t been up there since. So like I said, tomorrow will be a statement.”
Auburn left the Round 1 game with a sour taste in its mouth, as it felt it didn’t live up to the team that it is capable of being. Cardwell said the Tigers have had multiple team meetings in the past 24 hours, and he is very confident Saturday will be different.
“It wasn’t there at all,” Cardwell said about the effort vs. Alabama State. “We had a team meeting last night and one this morning, and we will be ready for tomorrow.”
Auburn will need the kind of defensive performance it had against Kentucky on Saturday, as the Tigers will take on No. 9 seed Creighton. The Blue Jays are an elite shooting team and showed that by shooting 11-of-24 from the 3-point line in their 89-75 victory against Louisville.
Cardwell is saying all the right things, but the Tigers have to go out and give maximum effort for 40 minutes on Saturday.
Auburn is currently a 9.5-point favorite vs. Creighton per BetMGM. We’ll see how the Tigers perform, and don’t forget to track the Final Four odds all tournament long.
