AUBURN, Ala. - Coach Johnnie Harris and the Auburn Tigers (6-3, 0-0) return from their month-long road trip Sunday to welcome in-state rivals UAB (5-2, 0-0) for an afternoon tilt.
Auburn’s road trip was full of ups and downs but never lacked competitive basketball. Starting in Eugene, Oregon, the Tigers dropped a heartbreaker to then-No. 23 Oregon. Taliah Scott followed her record-breaking performance against Little Rock with another big night against the Ducks.
The Tigers then traveled south to California to take on the Golden Bears in Berkeley. In brutal fashion, Auburn dropped another close one, falling 63-59 in the Haas Pavilion. It was on to the Virgin Islands and the Paradise Jam from there, where coach J’s team was able to take two of three from a stacked field of competition.
To close out the trip, they visited Virginia for what was already their third true road game of the season. DeYona Gaston and Taylen Collins both reached double-digit points and helped lead the Tigers to a 66-57 win over the Cavaliers.
So after 26 days, and nearly 10,000 miles of travel, Auburn has returned to Neville Arena. It seems like ages ago, but the last time they were there, they picked up the program’s 1,000th all-time victory. Taking down the Blazers would give them another notch in their belt.
UAB comes in with a solid 5-2 record. Their only losses have been to Jacksonville State on the road and Clemson in Niceville, Florida at the Emerald Coast Classic. Maddie Walsh and Jade Weathersby lead the team in the scoring category, averaging 13 and 11.1 points per game respectively. The Blazers have four others who sit right around a mark of nine points each contest, so Auburn can expect a balanced scoring attack.
Weathersby is not only averaging double-digit scoring outputs, she also boasts a very impressive 10.4 boards per game. The sophomore forward is averaging a double-double through seven games and is likely to be a big threat to the Tigers on Sunday.
The Blazers are led by 12th-year head coach Randy Norton. The 2017-2018 Conference USA Coach of the Year will guide his team into Neville Arena with an upset on his mind.
Auburn will be looking to avoid that upset loss and extend their season win total to seven games on Sunday. Normally, the Tigers would rely heavily on their transfer duo of Scott and Gaston to carry the load in the scoring department, but an injury has kept Scott sidelined for the past four games. Her status for the contest against UAB is not yet known. Gaston has put up more than 15 points in four of her last five games and has handled the scoring responsibility extremely well.
Mar’shaun Bostic, the Tiger point guard, has been dishing the ball out at an extremely effective rate as of late, leading the team with 5.33 assists per game. Look for Bostic to see a lot of the ball when the Tigers are in possession.
The Tigers were 10-point victors in Birmingham the last time these two met. They boast a 15-1 record at home against the Blazers and look to move it to 16-1. The in-state rivalry will tip off Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT. Radio coverage will come from Brit Bowen and the Auburn Sports Network. The game can also be streamed on SECN+.
