AUBURN, Ala. - After a heart-breaking defeat at the hands of Yale in the first round of March Madness, the Auburn Tigers are back once again. With the struggles of the football program, Auburn fans have been anxiously awaiting the return of Bruce Pearl’s squad. This year, the Tigers enter the season as number 11 in the preseason AP poll along with having preseason All-American Johni Broome. The national media is very high on the Tigers entering this season. With tipoff fast approaching, this article will fill you in on a few things to catch you up and get you ready for basketball in Neville Arena.
Key Arrivals
JP Pegues- One of the top transfer targets in the portal this past spring, the 6-foot-2 senior comes to the Plains, picking Auburn over the Florida Gators. After spending three years at Furman, he will immediately be thrown into the fire at Auburn. After averaging 18.4 points, 4.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds last year, the All-Southern point guard will bring much needed consistency to a position where Auburn has struggled at the past few seasons. For Auburn to succeed this season, they need Pegues to adapt quickly to the Tigers style of play.
Miles Kelly- Another top portal get for the Tigers, the 6-foot-6 combo shooting guard/small forward only had to get on I-85 to get from Georgia Tech to Auburn. After averaging 13.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists, Kelly will be one of Auburn’s top targets behind the three-point line, with many players saying he’s got the best three-point shot on the team. Look for him to mainly be at the SG position coming off the bench for Denver Jones and other times coming into the SF position for Chad Baker-Mazara.
Tahaad Pettiford- The McDonald's All-American and number two point guard in the class of 2024, Pettiford was the top get for Coach Pearl and the Tigers in the high school recruiting scape. The 6-foot-1 four star from New Jersey comes onto a team where he will get plenty of playing time at the PG position after the departures of both K.D. Johnson (George Mason) and Aden Holloway (Alabama). As a smaller guard, Auburn will rely on Pettiford’s speed and pace of play to make his time off the bench very worthwhile when Pegues goes out.
Schedule Snapshot
Coming into this season, Auburn will have the hardest non-conference schedule in program history and one of the hardest in college basketball. With guaranteed matchups against the numbers 4, 5, 7, 14 and a chance at numbers 3 and 9 in the preseason AP poll just in the non-conference slate, Auburn has a great chance to make a huge name for themselves even before conference play starts. Not to mention the Tigers will play the number 2, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21 and 24 in the preseason AP poll during conference play. So for this, we will look at a few of Auburn’s most important games and a few that may go under the radar.
Vermont (November 6)- a perennial tournament team out of the America East, the Catamounts are looking to make it to their fourth straight NCAA Tournament, and they know a win over a top-25 team could boost their odds from the jump. Do not overlook this game since it is the Tigers home opener as John Becker has built his team into one of the top mid-major teams in the country.
Houston (November 9, Toyota Center)- coming in as number 4 in the AP poll and number 1 in Ken Pom, Kelvin Sampson’s squad once again enters the season with high expectations and looking to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2021. Auburn on the other hand will be looking to avenge their loss to Houston in the round of 32 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. With LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts both making the preseason All-Big 12 First Team, Auburn will be facing an uphill battle at the home of the Houston Rockets. Statistically speaking with all the preseason metrics and rankings, this will be Auburn’s toughest matchup of not just the non-conference slate, but the whole regular season.
Maui Invitational (November 25-27)- the top Thanksgiving-time tournament almost every season, the Tigers will not have an easy Thanksgiving break. First, the Tigers will play the Iowa State Cyclones, who come into this season as the number 5 team in the AP, T.J. Otzelberger’s team are looking to once again return to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament after last season. With Preseason All-Big 12 First teamer Tamin Lipsey and second teamer Keshon Gilbert, there will be no shortage of talent in Ames this season. Depending on the result of this matchup, the Tigers will either face the Dayton Flyers or the 9th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. If the Tigers are to win both matchups, they most likely would face the back-to-back national champion and 3rd ranked UCONN Huskies. This tournament should act as a great litmus test to see how well Auburn may perform for matchups later in the season.
@ Duke (December 4)- in the second edition of the ACC/SEC, the Tigers will travel to Durham to take on the 7th ranked team in the AP and the 2nd ranked team in Ken Pom the Duke Blue Devils. With the arrival of the number one prospect in the class of 2024, Cooper Flagg, who has already been named as a part of the preseason All-American team and preseason All-ACC First team, much of the national spotlight for this game will be on the projected first overall selection in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Tigers will need to play some of their best basketball of the season if they want to walk out of Cameron Indoor Stadium with a win for the Southeastern Conference.
Purdue (December 21, Legacy Arena at the BJCC)- the national title runners up a season ago, the 14th ranked Boilermakers will travel to Birmingham to face off against Auburn just a few days before Christmas. While Matt Painter’s team did lose first team AP All-American Zach Edey to the NBA Draft, Purdue still has no shortage of talent. Preseason Big Ten Player of the year Braden Smith returns to West Lafayette after breaking school and Big Ten records last season with 292 assists.
Tennessee (January 25)- Auburn fans rejoice as the Tigers will not have to travel to Thompson-Boling Arena this season as the Tigers and Vols will only meetup on the Plains. Coach Barnes and his team look to bounce back after losing to Purdue last season in the Elite Eight. At the front of their quest to make it back to the NCAA tournament for the seventh year in a row is preseason First team All-SEC guard Zakai Zeigler. These two teams always have great matchups when they face off so be excited for this one.
Florida (February 8)- a rematch of last season’s SEC Tournament title game in Nashville, Auburn and Florida will only face each other on the Plains this year. Todd Golden’s 21st ranked Gators enter the year being led by 6’3” preseason First Team All-SEC guard Walter Clayton Jr. After averaging more than 17 points a game last season, look for the Gators to get the ball a lot more to Clayton Jr this season. Also look out for 6’11” forward Alex Condon to make a huge improvement this season.
@ Alabama (February 15)- in the first round in the Iron Bowl of basketball, the Tigers travel to T-Town to take on the 2nd ranked Tide. Being led be preseason All-American and SEC preseason player of the year Mark Sears, Auburn will have to look to contain one of the best players in the country. Along with Sears, second team All-SEC forward Grant Nelson returns for Alabama and he will look to build on his big season last season.
Arkansas (February 19)- in his first trip to the Plains with his new squad, John Calipari will look to get his squad in a position to beat Bruce Pearl again inside Neville Arena. With Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis leading the way, the Razorbacks will be looking to bounce back after a difficult year last season and get back to another second weekend in the NCAA Tournament. This will once again be a very difficult matchup for the Tigers.
Alabama (March 8)- In the final game of the regular season, the Iron Bowl of basketball makes its way to Auburn, Alabama. The Tigers will look to make it two in a row at home over the Tide and hope to put themselves in a great position heading into the SEC tournament the next week in Nashville.
Auburn fans are excited for the season, and for good reason. This season has a chance to be great one, so pack The Jungle, cheer as loud as you can and let’s have a great season of basketball in Neville Arena.
