Tag: auburn basketball news

Bruce Pearl hints at Auburn’s 2024 rotation

Auburn will have a very different looking rotation this season.

Auburn men’s basketball coach [autotag]Bruce Pear[/autotag]l addressed the media via Zoom on Friday. With fall camp fast approaching, Pearl pointed out four key areas where the Tigers need to make up for lost production from last season.

“We gotta replace [autotag]Wendell Green[/autotag], we gotta replace [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag], we gotta replace [autotag]Allen Flanigan[/autotag], and we gotta replace whoever backed up [autotag]Jaylin Williams [/autotag] last year.”

Pearl mentioned freshmen guard [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] as the likely replacement for Green.

He called Holloway “a combination of a lot of the guards [Auburn] has had in the past.” Holloway was a McDonald’s All-American in 2022, leading his team to a 36-1 record while averaging 18.5 points, 5.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game as a senior.

Auburn’s head coach is high on the former five-star recruit, likening his work ethic to that of former Auburn first-round picks [autotag]Jabari Smith[/autotag], [autotag]Walker Kessler[/autotag], and [autotag]Isaac Okoro[/autotag].

The starting point guard spot is Holloway’s to lose, although Pearl did mention [autotag]Tre Donaldson[/autotag] as a player who will see some minutes and push Holloway to be better.

Pearl’s next test will be replacing defensive wizard [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag]. While the loss of Jasper will hurt the Tigers defensively, Pearl did note the potential for the team to improve scoring the basketball, where he is opting to give transfer guard [autotag]Denver Jones[/autotag] a run in the starting five over fan-favorite [autotag]K.D Johnson,[/autotag] at least for now, due to his high-volume scoring ability.

“Denver Jones could be a candidate for one of our top two or three scorers.”

It’s hard to argue with that statement, Jones was absolutely lethal as a scorer last season. The sophomore guard was one of only 26 players in Division 1 to average at least 20.0 points per game in 2022, helping him become the first-ever FIU Panther to win Conference USA first-team all-conference honors.

Pearl was a little more ambiguous when discussing how he would deploy his front-court options.

He did take time to praise JUCO transfer [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] and Division 2 transfer [autotag]Chaney Johnson[/autotag], calling Baker-Mazara “really good,” while citing his accomplishments at Northwest Florida State College and San Diego State.

The issue with Baker-Mazara is his size, where he measures 6 feet 7 inches but weighs only 190 pounds. That body type does not bode well for a healthy season, especially in the physical SEC.

As for Johnson, Pearl called him “one of the best athletes on our team,” citing his ability to shoot, guard multiple positions, and dribble the basketball.

Of course, returning Tigers [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag], [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Cardwell [/autotag] will see ample minutes in the front court as well.

Pearl still has plenty of time to figure out his final rotation ahead of Auburn’s season opener against Baylor on Nov. 7, but it seems like he at least has an idea of how he would like to deploy his roster ahead of this season.

Fall camp performances and injuries will surely change some things too.

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Auburn basketball set to begin home-and-home with USC in December

A date is set for Auburn basketball’s matchup with USC. The game will be played on December 18 at Galen Center in Los Angeles, California.

On Tuesday, the host of the CollegeHoopsPodcast, Jon Rothstein reported the Auburn basketball team would travel to Los Angeles to play USC. The game is scheduled to take place on December 18, 2022, and will be played in the Galen Center.

The Trojans will have to make the trip to Neville Arena in 2023 although a date has not been set at this time. The game will feature two of the more talented teams in all of college basketball. Auburn will return a great nucleus with players like Wendell Green Jr., K.D. Johnson, Zep Jasper, and Allen Flanigan all returning. Other players like Jaylin Williams, Dylan Cardwell, and Morehead State transfer Johni Broome will look to complement those guys as key players in the paint for the Tigers.

As for the Trojans, they will also return some key players from a season ago. Head coach Andy Enfield will get to utilize guards Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson for another year as both elected to return rather than go pro. It also doesn’t hurt that the Trojans are bringing in a superb class with five-star Vince Iwuchukwu being the head of the class. Other players that will join the team are four-stars Kijani White and Tre White.

The matchup between the two will be a well-played game on both ends of the floor. Both of the programs are coming off of NCAA Tournament appearances. It will be interesting to see how the Tigers perform out West against one of the premier teams in college basketball.

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Auburn hoops has announced their first opponent for the 2022 season

Auburn announces who they will open the 2022-23 season against in early November.

On Tuesday, CBS basketball insider Jon Rothstein reported that Auburn will be facing George Mason in game one of their ’22-’23 season. This is interesting, to say the least.

The two teams have met just once in history. Their very first meeting came in 2017 when Auburn defeated George Mason by a score of 79-63. Now, they will meet for just the second time and the game will be played in Neville Arena.

The Patriots haul from an impressive Atlantic 10 conference, to say the least. Programs like Davidson, Dayton, Richmond, St. Louis, St. Bonaventure’s, and VCU are among very successful teams in the conference. When the 2021 season came to a close, George Mason finished with a 14-16 and eighth in the A-10. However, they did knock off several notable teams. The Patriots beat Maryland and Georgia on the road. They also knocked off Dayton who beat the eventual national champions, the Kansas Jayhawks.

The program is set to bring in two transfers: Victor Bailey (Tennessee) and Saquan Singleton (New Mexico). Along with those two additions, they are also bringing top 150 four-star prospects Justyn Fernandez. It will be interesting to see how Auburn performs against a team that appears to be heading in the right direction.

The Tigers are also slated to compete in the Cancun Challenge in November. They are also going to travel to both Washington and USC for road games on the west coast. Along with those opponents, [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] and his squad are also slated to take on Appalachian State, South Florida, and St. Louis as part of the home-and-home series. One storyline to watch is how the Tigers perform in non-conference. It certainly seems to the naked eye that Pearl is doing his best to put together a strong schedule for the upcoming season.

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How to watch War Ready in TBT Sunday

Here’s what you need to know about today’s War Ready contest.

Auburn fans will get a dose of Auburn basketball flavor that many miss dearly during the offseason when War Ready takes action in The Basketball Tournament (TBT)Sunday.

What is War Ready:

War Ready is a team composed of former Auburn Basketball stars fighting for a chance to take home the TBT championship prize.

How to Watch: 

War Ready will take on The Bucketneers, a team made up of East Tennessee State alums Sunday, July 18th at 11:00 CST on ESPN.

Who is on War Ready:

You can see a breakdown of the War Ready Roster here.

What’s at stake:

The TBT’s purse is a $1 million winner take all prize for the winning team.

Auburn basketball offers Florida forward

Auburn basketball is showing interest in an Orlando power forward.

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Bruce Pearl has offered three-star power forward Ven-Allen Lubin.

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound power forward from Orlando, Florida tweeted out Tuesday night that he has been offered a scholarship to play for the Auburn Tigers.

The Orlando Christian Prep standout has attracted interest from several SEC schools including, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Georgia. Now the Tigers have entered the mix.

Lubin is rated as the 22nd best player in the state of Florida per 247Sports and the 27th best power forward in the 2022 class.

Pearl and the Tigers have not received any commitments for the class of 2022 yet.

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Auburn, Bruce Pearl watching NBA to learn how to use size on court

Bruce Pearl has the tallest roster since arriving at Auburn and is learning how to use all of that size by watching the Los Angeles Lakers.

For the first time since Bruce Pearl arrived at Auburn in 2014, he’s going to have a good problem on the court in a lot of size.

With UNC transfer Walker Kessler (7-foot-1), J.T. Thor (6-foot-10), Babatunde Akingbola (6-foot-10) and Dylan Cardwell (6-foot-11), the Tigers now have four players, counting Thor, that can be mismatches in the interior. Yet how will Pearl and his staff keep everyone happy with playing time and get the most out of their skills? The Auburn coach is learning by watching the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

“Everybody knows that they’re better when the big fella (Davis) plays the 5 and LeBron plays the 4,” Pearl said per AuburnSports.com Bryan Matthews. “Well, they’ve got a couple of centers that need to be out there. All of a sudden, they’re all playing out of position. They’re bigger. What could they be doing better?

“I watch the Lakers really carefully, because we’re probably going to be bigger. So, taking advantage of our size and it not being a weakness. Letting it be a strength and a problem for our opponents.”

The arrival of Kessler, a former five-star recruit, is one of the top gets in all of college basketball this offseason as he brings a versatility to the position that Auburn hasn’t had in the past.

When you add in Jaylin Williams (6-foot-8) and incoming freshman Jabari Smith Jr. (6-foot-9), you also have three big guys that can shoot from the outside.

“I think the thing is, you look at every team and look at what we have. We’re gonna be really big at 4 and 5, bigger than we’ve ever been,” Pearl said. “We’ve got really skilled guys at the position. Dylan is really getting skilled. He’s really mobile. Walker is really mobile. Stretch is really mobile. Jaylin and Jabari are really skilled. I’ve got five really good frontline guys. So that’s going to be different.”

Auburn, Bruce Pearl watching NBA to learn how to use size on court

Bruce Pearl has the tallest roster since arriving at Auburn and is learning how to use all of that size by watching the Los Angeles Lakers.

For the first time since Bruce Pearl arrived at Auburn in 2014, he’s going to have a good problem on the court in a lot of size.

With UNC transfer Walker Kessler (7-foot-1), J.T. Thor (6-foot-10), Babatunde Akingbola (6-foot-10) and Dylan Cardwell (6-foot-11), the Tigers now have four players, counting Thor, that can be mismatches in the interior. Yet how will Pearl and his staff keep everyone happy with playing time and get the most out of their skills? The Auburn coach is learning by watching the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

“Everybody knows that they’re better when the big fella (Davis) plays the 5 and LeBron plays the 4,” Pearl said per AuburnSports.com Bryan Matthews. “Well, they’ve got a couple of centers that need to be out there. All of a sudden, they’re all playing out of position. They’re bigger. What could they be doing better?

“I watch the Lakers really carefully, because we’re probably going to be bigger. So, taking advantage of our size and it not being a weakness. Letting it be a strength and a problem for our opponents.”

The arrival of Kessler, a former five-star recruit, is one of the top gets in all of college basketball this offseason as he brings a versatility to the position that Auburn hasn’t had in the past.

When you add in Jaylin Williams (6-foot-8) and incoming freshman Jabari Smith Jr. (6-foot-9), you also have three big guys that can shoot from the outside.

“I think the thing is, you look at every team and look at what we have. We’re gonna be really big at 4 and 5, bigger than we’ve ever been,” Pearl said. “We’ve got really skilled guys at the position. Dylan is really getting skilled. He’s really mobile. Walker is really mobile. Stretch is really mobile. Jaylin and Jabari are really skilled. I’ve got five really good frontline guys. So that’s going to be different.”

Auburn basketball rises in latest preseason Top 25 by The Athletic

With the addition of a few key transfers, Auburn has gone from just making the cut of the top 25 to being square in the middle.

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Auburn just made the cut at No. 25 the last time The Athletic put out a preseason top 25 for the 2021-22 college basketball season.

This time, the Tigers had plenty of room to spare.

In the latest top 25 by the publication, Bruce Pearl’s team jumped up nine spots to No. 16. The reason? The transfer portal.

Skinny: The Tigers have added three really good transfers since my previous ranking, including arguably the best player in the portal in 7-1 sophomore forward Walker Kessler, who averaged 8.2 points to go along with 5.3 rebounds over the last 10 games at North Carolina. Sophomore point guard Wendell Green averaged 15.8 points and 5.0 assists at Eastern Kentucky, and 6-1 senior guard Desi Sills averaged 7.5 points off the bench at Arkansas. Bruce Pearl is bringing back two of his top four scorers from last season and is adding 6-10 freshman forward Jabari Smith, a top-five high school recruit.

With Auburn Arena likely at full capacity once again, this is going to be a fun basketball season on the Plains.

4-star center Kel’el Ware has Auburn in final 10 schools

Four-star center Kel’el Ware out of North Little Rock High School has Auburn among his final 10 schools.

On Saturday, four-star center Kel’el Ware announced the top 10 programs he will be looking at to continue his basketball career. Auburn is one of them.

Ware, a 6-foot-11 center out of North Little Rock High School in Little Rock,  Arkansas, is the No. 5 player at his position in the 2022 class and the 32nd-ranked player overall.

From his 247Sports scouting report:

Ware oozes with natural talent and elite upside. He has great size and length plus some complimenting skill as he shows great hands with nice touch out to 20 feet. He is fluid for a player his size and runs the floor with a smooth gait. Ware is a long way from being a finished product but has the raw tools, potential, and touch to be a serious problem on both ends of the floor. His production will increase once he gains comfort in playing through physicality.

Auburn offers Missouri guard transfer Xavier Pinson

Missouri transfer Xavier Pinson could be a key factor in the Auburn offense if he decides to come to the Plains.

Auburn is in play for another talented transfer guard.

On Wednesday, Bruce Pearl and the Tigers’ staff offered a scholarship to Xavier Pinson who on Tuesday announced that he is transferring from Missouri.

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As a junior in 2020-21, the Chicago native averaged 13.6 points, 2.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game. With the departure of Justin Powell and Jamal Johnson, the Tigers could use his experience and scoring at the guard position.

Auburn picked up a commitment from College of Charleston guard Zep Jasper last week.