The No. 25 Auburn Tigers (10-2) will close out conference play and start the new year against the Penn Quakers (8-6) on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
This game comes just one day after the Tigers were granted a New Year gift of a spot In the AP Poll’s top 25, as Auburn will look not only to defend the spot but prepare for a fisty SEC conference schedule ahead of them.
"Penn is historically one of the best teams in the Ivy League," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "They will play awfully hard. They will play awfully smart. They will be the best-coached team that we'll play against from the standpoint of their coach and how well he's able to translate that to his players. They're always in the right place at the right time."
A player especially looking to build off his success from 2023 will be Jaylin Williams who went a perfect 9-9 from the field against Chattanooga in Auburn’s 101-66 win this past Saturday, and currently boasts a field goal percentage of 59% on the year.
"Jaylin Williams is playing his best basketball right now," Pearl said. "I'm really happy for him and proud of him. He's doing it on both ends of the floor, and he's doing it really unselfishly and really efficiently. And he's doing it athletically. You're starting to see the real athleticism that he possesses and the upside.”
Auburn will look to grab their seventh win all-time against Ivy League opponent with the most recent coming by way of a 88-64 victory over Yale in 2021.
The first sporting event of the 2024 academic year will take place at 8:00 pm CT and can be listened to on the Auburn Athletics app, or AuburnTigers.com.
