Through the first nine games of the season, Auburn has become familiar with tough games and, unfortunately, the trap games sandwiched between them.
On Nov. 29, Auburn hosted Virginia Tech for a contest at Neville Arena as part of the first-ever ACC-SEC Challenge. The Tigers would go on to smash the Hokies, 74-57, and picked up confidence ahead of a neutral site game against Indiana.
Before the Indiana game, however, the Tigers experienced a roadblock in Boone, North Carolina. Auburn shot just 39% from the field and connected on just 11% of its three-point shots in a stunning upset loss to Appalachian State.
Auburn quickly got over the Appalachian State loss by defeating the Hoosiers, 104-76 at Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta. Auburn now has a game with Bronny James and USC in its sights, but it needed to learn from its past mistakes by getting past UNC Asheville on Wednesday night.
Auburn avoided another “trap game” loss by running past Asheville, 87-62. The Tigers had ten players score at least five points in the game and received 51 points from their bench.
Auburn head coach [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] says that he is proud of his team’s preparation despite their road-heavy start.
“I thought Steven (Pearl) did a great job on the scout, I thought we had great preparation. I think we probably had a couple of good practices, fairly locked in. We’ve played nine games and I feel like we’ve played 29 games because of all the traveling. I bet there isn’t a team in the country that’s played nine games and has only played three home games. Part of us building our resume is playing on the road or playing in neutral sites, and certainly, we want Auburn…Auburn is big here in Huntsville, big in Atlanta.”
Auburn welcomes USC to Neville Arena on Sunday for what will be a star-studded affair. Auburn guard Aden Holloway is one of three players from the 247Sports top 25 recruiting rankings that will be on the floor, joining Isaiah Collier and Bronny James.
On paper, Auburn has the upper hand in several categories such as KenPom ranking, NET ranking, and strength of record. A win over Auburn would be more important for USC than vice versa. The Trojans come into the game ranked No. 86 in the NET, which would give Auburn a Quad 3 win. However, if USC were to upset the Tigers on the Plains, the Trojans would earn its first Quad 1 win of the season as Auburn is No. 17.
Auburn needs to remain focused, and they are on the path to earning a Sunday victory over USC.
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