Tag: auburn basketball

Report: Auburn to play Gonzaga on Nov. 27 in Fort Myers

Auburn will reportedly face the West Coast Conference powerhouse on Friday, November 27 in Fort Myers.

After it seemed that Auburn’s early-season matchup against Gonzaga would not be played, the game is reportedly back on and in a new location.

Per Jon Rothstein, the Tigers and Bulldogs will meet on Friday, November 27 in Fort Myers as part of a four-team tournament. Kansas is also involved and another team is to be named. (Editor’s note: As someone still quarantining in Fort Myers, I welcome Bruce Pearl and the entire staff to dinner.)

Auburn was originally set to play Gonzaga in Orlando but protocols put in by Disney made the games unplayable.

Auburn basketball: CBS picks Tigers to finish 7th in SEC

Auburn has a talented but young team for the 2020-21 basketball season.

Bruce Pearl has a talented but young squad on his hands for the 2020-21 basketball season as Auburn lost its six top scorers from a team that went 25-6 and finished second in the SEC regular season.

Over at CBS Sports, they have published their predicted SEC rankings for the season and have the Tigers in the middle of the pack at seventh.

Auburn brings in one of its most hyped recruiting classes with 5-star guard Sharife Cooper leading the way. Four-star forward J.T. Thor is also looked at as a starter from the get go.

From CBS:

All five starters from last season’s team that began the season with 15 straight wins, and finished tied for second in the SEC, are gone — most notably Isaac Okoro, the one-and-done wing who is now expected to be selected in the lottery of the 2020 NBA Draft. So it’s reasonable to assume Auburn will slide in the league standings after finishing in the top four of the SEC in three straight seasons. But Bruce Pearl still has a chance to land in the top half of the league, and compete for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, thanks to a top-10 recruiting class headlined by five-star point guard Sharife Cooper, who pledged to Auburn over Kentucky in September 2019. The ball will be in his hands from Day One. And his most talented teammate might end up being JT Thor, a four-star forward who committed to Auburn in April to give the Tigers a frontcourt piece who should help offset the loss of Austin Wiley.

Here is how the SEC rankings broke down:

1. Tennessee

2. Kentucky

3. LSU

4. Florida

5. Alabama

6. Arkansas

7. Auburn

8. South Carolina

9. Ole Miss

10. Missouri

11. Texas A&M

12. Mississippi State

13. Georgia

14. Vanderbilt

UGA basketball left out of SEC/Big 12 Challenge

The Georgia Bulldogs basketball team will no be participating in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge this season.

The Georgia Bulldogs basketball team will no be participating in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge this season. The Dawgs are one of four unlucky SEC basketball programs who won’t participate.

The SEC has 14 basketball teams while the Big 12 has only ten. This means that four SEC teams have to sit out each season. The SEC/Big 12 Challenge is expected to take place on Jan. 30, 2021.

The most interesting games in the series will be Texas at Kentucky, Auburn at Baylor, and Kansas at Tennessee. Last season’s college basketball season ended too soon. Hopefully this season will go smoother.

Here are the SEC’s ten match-ups with the Big 12:

Instead of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, the Dawgs will face off against the Memphis Tigers. UGA upset Memphis last season in what was the high point of the season for the Bulldogs. Georgia loses an elite player in Anthony Edwards to the NBA Draft this offseason.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Auburn to face Baylor in 2021 SEC/Big 12 Challenge

The Tigers will face a huge challenge at Baylor in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Last year it was Iowa State in Auburn Arena. This season for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Bruce Pearl’s team will be traveling to Waco, Texas to face Baylor.

The announcement came out on Wednesday morning along with the other matchups in the annual event. The Bears are expected to be one of the top teams in the country this under. In a way-too-early ranking released by ESPN, Scott Drew’s team came in as the top-ranked team for 2020-21.

Baylor finished last season 26-4 (15-3 Big 12) and ranked No. 4 when the season was suspended due to COVID-19.

Here are the other matchups in the challenge:

SEC/Big 12 Challenge (January 30, 2021):

Alabama at Oklahoma

Arkansas at Oklahoma State

Auburn at Baylor

Florida at West Virginia

Texas at Kentucky

Texas Tech at LSU

Iowa State at Mississippi State

TCU at Missouri

Kansas at Tennessee

Texas A&M at Kansas State

Auburn basketball: Tigers land commitment from 7-foot center

Auburn landed the commitment over Kentucky, Kansas and many more.

Bruce Pearl just landed a major presence on the inside.

On Thursday, Sage Tolentino, a 7-foot center from Honolulu, announced that he is going to be playing for Auburn. He is a member of the 2022 signing class.

From 247Sports:

Tolentino, who is 16 years old, chose Auburn after being recruited by Kansas, Kentucky and others. Last season he averaged 13.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots per game for Maryknoll High. An All-State selection, he was named the defensive player of the year in his state as a sophomore after helping his team to the Division 1 state title for a second consecutive year.

With high school teams not being allowed to compete or practice due restrictions by officials in that state as a response to the COVID19 outbreak, he is expected to play for Hamilton High School in Ohio for the 2020-21 season as a junior. The class of 2022 prospect has been working out in Ohio with Griffin Elite, a basketball training program.

Auburn releases updated heights, weights for Tigers basketball roster

The Tigers will be young but talented going into the 2020-21 basketball season.

It seems that football season just started (and frankly, we are just three weeks in so that feeling is correct), but basketball season is about to get ramped up with the start of practice.

Despite losing its top six scorers from last season, the Tigers are reloading as Bruce Pearl signed the ninth-ranked recruiting class in the country including 5-star guard Sharife Cooper.

On Wednesday, Auburn released updated heights and weights for the new roster. Take a look:

5-star power forward Jabari Smith commits to Auburn

Auburn has landed the commitment of 5-star power forward Jabari Smith

Bruce Pearl just landed another major talent.

Jabari Smith, a 5-star power forward and top five overall prospect from Tyrone, Ga. announced that he has committed to Auburn on Friday evening. He is the highest-rated commit in program history, taking over that honor from incoming freshman Sharife Cooper.

Standing 6-foot-10 and 210 pounds, here is Smith’s scouting report from 247Sports.

Smith is a face up four who has continuously grown in height over the last couple of years. He now has good size for the position to go with a still extremely physically immature frame with plenty of room to gain strength. While Smith has a jump hook and can post up, he is most comfortable facing up. He has a smooth stroke with range to the perimeter. Improving athletically and as a passer. Rebounds area well and has made progress as rim protector. Projects as first round pick with normal expected development.

Jabari Smith, nation’s No. 5 overall player, to announce commitment Friday

Jabari Smith, the No. 5 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite and No. 1 power forward, will announce his college decision on Friday at 3:00pm EST, according to 247Sports.

Jabari Smith, the No. 5 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite and the top power forward, will announce his college decision on Friday at 3:00 pm EST, according to 247Sports.

Smith will be deciding between Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, North Carolina and Tennessee. The 6-foot-10 and 210-pound power forward spoke with 247Sports about Auburn.

“They play very free, I think they’re a very good defensive team so I think that will bring out the defensive part of my game that people don’t really see. I feel like they always play with long active wings and forwards so I think that will be a good fit for me. They also just talk about how I would fit in their play style.”

Auburn is currently the favorite according to the 247Sports Crystal Ball with the lone prediction favoring them.

Top basketball target JD Davison moves up commitment date

JD Davison, the No. 1 point guard in 2021 according to the 247Sports Composite, has moved his commitment date up yo Oct. 3, according to 247Sports.

JD Davison, the No. 1 point guard in 2021 according to the 247Sports Composite, has moved his commitment date up to Oct. 3, according to 247Sports.

The 6-foot-3 and 175-pound Davison is the No. 9 overall recruit and has a final six of Auburn. Alabama, Kansas, LSU, Memphis and Michigan.

He spoke earlier with 247Sports about his top schools and his fit with Auburn.

“They fit my play-style, they got coach [Bruce] Pearl and coach [Wes] Flanigan, some great coaches and they have great point guards come through there.”

SEC announces start dates for men’s and women’s basketball

SEC basketball will begin at the end of December.

We will get to see SEC basketball a little earlier than usual this year.

On Friday, the SEC announced that the men’s and women’s basketball conference season will begin on Dec. 29 and 30.

From the press release:

The 2020-21 SEC men’s basketball conference schedule will be comprised of 20 play dates that would accommodate an 18-game schedule with two open dates. Ten SEC schools will fill one of those open dates with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January. The four teams not participating in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge will play league games that day.

The 2020-21 SEC women’s basketball conference schedule remains at 18 play dates that will fit a 16-game league schedule.

Earlier this month, the NCAA Division I Council approved a Nov. 25 start date for the 2020-21 men’s and women’s college basketball seasons, when the SEC will begin non-conference play. Teams can begin preseason practice on Wednesday, Oct. 14 and will have a 42-day window to conduct no more than 30 practices.