Lebo hopes for less flashiness vs. George Washington

Jeff Lebo put together a special video for his players the day after Auburn’s upset loss at home to Mercer.

It wasn’t a feel-good flick by any means. The tape was crafted to elicit a strong reaction, something that sticks in the Tigers’ heads during every numbers-friendly fast break or every time a fancy dunk, instead of a surefire layup, seems like the best way to score 2 points.

Lebo didn’t have to do much editing from Auburn’s 40 minutes against the Bears. There were plenty of blown layups, wayward alley-oop attempts and the normal — but still frustrating — amount of missed free throws to keep the tape rolling.

“I tell them all the time it’s not about degree of difficulty,” Lebo said. “You don’t get extra points for degree of difficulty. Sometimes kids want to be fashionable.”

There was nothing fashionable about the impromptu, postgame party held underneath Auburn’s hoop by the entire Bears team and the hundred or so fans who made the trip from Macon, Ga.

It may not have occurred, Lebo pointed out, if Auburn had converted earlier in the game on a number of open looks. The Tigers left 12 points off the scoreboard, Lebo said, and that’s not counting the turnaround points the Bears netted when a blown Auburn alley-oop led to an easy fastbreak.

“You can tell them until you’re blue in the face,” Lebo said. “They think, ‘Hey, well if it happens in the beginning it’s not important.’

“We try to be pretty with it and make great plays and come out with nothing. I hope they understand that now.”

If they don’t, it will show today in another tough non-conference contest, when the Tigers host George Washington at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.

The Tigers will, again, be without Rasheem Barrett, who continues to nurse a nagging groin injury. Everyone else should be healthy, Lebo said, even though the Tigers’ two top scorers walked off the court Wednesday limping.

Both Tay Waller (leg cramps) and Korvotney Barber (ankle) were either out or ineffective in Wednesday’s waning moments. Waller should be fine, but Lebo showed some concern with Barber, who has been a “little slow” coming back from a hand injury that forced him out for most of last season.

“He’s not been physical,” Lebo said of Barber, who scored 17 points against the Bears, but was stymied inside the paint most of the game. “He’s wanting to put it down, and he’s getting stuck underneath the bucket instead of going right to his jump hook off the catch and using his quickness right away.

“Screening and physicality, he was not as good as I’ve seen him.”

Barber was a key factor in last year’s win over the Colonials, scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the 74-70 victory.

“Vot was pretty good offensively against them last year,” Lebo said. “But we have a different team now.”

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