Tag: Wendell Green Jr

Best photos from Auburn basketballs first practice

K.D. Johnson is still as entertaining as ever.

Auburn basketball had its first practice of the season on Monday and [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] is once again excited about his team.

Despite losing Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler to the NBA, it is easy to see why. The Tigers return experienced guards in [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag], [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag], and [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag].

Smith and Zessler will be hard to replace but adding the tandem of transfer [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] and five-star [autotag]Yohan Traore[/autotag] is an excellent way to fill their roles. [autotag]Dylan Cardwell[/autotag] is also a year older and ready for a bigger role off the bench.

[autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] has also gained more experience and is ready to take on a bigger role after taking a step back to let Smith lead the offense. While the team has a long way to go, here is a look at the best photos from their first practice of the season, featuring the always entertaining Johnson.

‘Recognize your blessing’: Wendell Green is thankful for Israel experience

Auburn guard Wendell Green Jr. made the most of his team’s abroad adventure.

The Auburn Tigers wrapped up a business trip to Israel on Monday following a challenging game against the Israeli National Team, where they were defeated 95-86.

In the final game of the tour, guard [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag] had the luxury of matching up with Washington Wizards forward Deni Avdija, who is spending the summer competing with the best players from his home country of Israel on their national squad. The matchup was a fierce one, as both players were the leading scorer for their respective clubs, Avdija scored 25 and Green ended with 18.

Green feels that the matchup was great for his development.

“Just being matched up, he guarded me most of the game. I think I got his respect tonight,” Green said following the game. “It was just fun to match up against a pro, somebody that is in the league. That’s my dream. I want to make the NBA one day. It was just fun to match up against somebody like that for 40 minutes.”

Green had a successful exhibition slate, averaging 10.6 points over three games. While he benefitted from playing from a basketball standpoint, Green says that he is thankful for the opportunity to travel abroad to a country such as Israel.

With the NCAA’s rule of allowing college programs to travel abroad once every four years, it is rare for a college student to get the opportunity to hone their basketball skills while taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Green says that he did not take this trip for granted.

“I keep saying, ‘Recognize your blessing,'” Green said. “I don’t know anybody else who has done this in my life, besides my teammates, so it’s just a blessing to come here. You never know when you’ll come back to Israel. Just recognize your blessings.”

The trip to Israel was mostly about basketball, but the program got to visit important historical markers as well as encounter the experience of swimming in the Dead Sea, even though it resulted in an unfortunate personal event for Green.

“That was the craziest thing, floating in the Dead Sea,” Green said. “I broke my phone in the Dead Sea, which is sad. But other than that, it was fun to float on the water. You can’t do that anywhere else on Earth.”

Once the team returns to campus, they will have just over 80 days to prepare for the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Auburn will face Alabama-Huntsville in an exhibition on Nov. 2 before opening the season against George Mason on Nov. 7. Both games will be played at Neville Arena.

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Auburn falls to Israeli National Team in final game of Israel tour

Auburn fought hard but was unable to best Israel’s national team.

It was by a slim margin of nine points, but the Auburn Tigers were unable to leave their expedition to Israel undefeated.

Auburn lost to the Israeli National Team by a score of 95-86, ending their tenure in the country with a loss and a 2-1 record over three exhibition matches. Unlike the Israeli U20 team and the Israeli All-Star Select, the regular national team boasted NBA competition and players who were much older than the current Tigers roster.

The Tigers kept it close across the entire game, and they ended the first half tied with Israel at 20 apiece. [autotag]Chris Moore[/autotag] was the leading scorer for the Tigers with six points and two rebounds, and emerging star [autotag]Yohan Traore[/autotag] wasn’t too far behind.

Auburn still kept it close at the half, as the Tigers ended the first half of the game trailing 43-41. [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag] emerged as the Tigers’ leading scorer at the break, scoring 10 points and netting two assists.

The Tigers found themselves down by 10 at the end of the third, 68-58. Green Jr. continued his dominant performance, ending it with 15 points and six rebounds. [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] showed out as well, scoring eight points and six rebounds.

In the end, though, the Tigers were not able to rally and defeat Israel. The team lost 95-86, but managed to put four of its players in the double digits for scoring. Green Jr. remained the team’s highest scoring, dropping 19 points across the game.

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How to watch Auburn basketball in Israel

Here is everything you need to know about Auburn’s trip to Israel.

Auburn fans will be getting an early glimpse of the Tigers next week. The Tigers are traveling to Israel for three games as part of the Birthright of College Basketball tour.

The trip will be the first look at a roster that has undergone massive turnover. Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler are off to the NBA. [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] and his staff reloaded in the front court with [autotag]Yohan Traore[/autotag] and [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag].

[autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag], and [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag] are all back in the backcourt but could be filling new roles and some additions will add some important depth.

The Tigers will have a talented but new roster as they seek to defend their regular-season SEC title and the tour is a great chance for them to start to gel on the court. Here is everything you need to know about the games.

Auburn guard inks NIL deal with Next Sports Agency

Auburn guard signs a NIL deal with Next Sports Agency.

On Tuesday, Auburn guard [autotag]Wendell Green Jr. [/autotag]announced via his Twitter that he had signed a NIL deal with Next Sports Agency. On July 1, 2021, college athletes were allowed to receive profits from NIL (name, image,  likeness) deals. It has since become very popular in college sports. This new agreement provides college athletes with the opportunity to receive compensation for their hard work.

Green Jr. transferred to Auburn from Eastern Kentucky. The Michigan native spent one season with the Colonels. He averaged 15.8 points per game and shot 39.6% from the floor. With the Tigers this past season, he would average 12 points per game and shoot 36.5% from the floor. His ability to make lengthy three-point shots and distribute the ball is what makes his role on the team so pivotal.

In 2021, [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] chose to use Green Jr. as a “sixth man”. However, he still averaged 26.4 minutes per game. This season many expect the Tigers to insert Green Jr. into the starting lineup. That may not be the case with both Zep Jasper and K.D. Johnson set to return. Nonetheless, his role will be crucial to the Tigers’ success in the ’22-23 season.

Auburn will take trip to Seattle to return home-and-home with Washington in 2022

Auburn will face Washington in 2022 as part of the backend of a home-and-home series.

On Friday, Jon Rothstein of CollegeHoopsToday reported that Auburn will make the trek to Seattle to return the back end of a home-and-home with Washington. The last time the two met was in 2018 when the Tigers hosted the Huskies. Auburn won decisively by a score of 88-66. Last season, the Huskies finished the season with a 17-15 record and finished 5th in the Pac-12.

Along with the trip to Seattle, Bruce Pearl’s squad will also travel to Galen Center in Los Angeles to take on the USC Trojans. Both Washington and USC will be tall tasks for the Tigers early on in the season. Auburn is set to return several of its’ key contributors in [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag], [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag], [autotag]Dylan Cardwell[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag]. It will likely take some time early on in the season to gel together, especially with both [autotag]Walker Kessler[/autotag] and [autotag]Jabari Smith[/autotag] declaring for the NBA Draft.

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

There are also several other teams that the Tigers will face as part of a home-and-home series such as St. Louis (home), South Florida (home), and Appalachian State (away). It is also worth noting that the Tigers will compete in the 2022 Cancun Challenge as well. With Auburn set to be good once again in the SEC, it will certainly face some of the more premier teams in all of college basketball prior to that.

Players that Auburn should target in the transfer portal

Taking a look at some of the players in the transfer portal that the Tigers should target.

The Auburn coaching staff has certainly seen success through the transfer portal. Last season, Auburn landed four transfers. College of Charleston transfer [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag], Georgia transfer [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag], Eastern Kentucky transfer [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag], and North Carolina transfer [autotag]Walker Kessler[/autotag] all joined the Tigers program last offseason. Each of them played large roles in the Tigers’ success this past season.

Three of the four will likely be back next season as well. Head coach Bruce Pearl has proven that he can send players to the league. Over the years, players like Isaac Okoro, Sharife Cooper, and Chuma Okeke have all seen their own share of success in the NBA up to this point. Two players that are suited to join them after the upcoming NBA draft are Walker Kessler and [autotag]Jabari Smith[/autotag]. It just goes to show that Pearl has accomplished a lot since he joined Auburn.

The coaching staff has shown early interest in several elite players in the transfer portal. Today, we will take a look at some of the players that they should target that are still available in the portal.

Where Auburn ranks in USA TODAY’S way-too-early preseason top 25

It is never too early for a ranking.

The 2021-22 college basketball season came to a close last night with the Kansas Jayhawks winning the national championship over the North Carolina Tarheels.

With the close of that season, it is not time to focus on the 2022-23 season, and Scott Gleeson of USA TODAY released his way-too-early men’s preseason top 25 and Auburn made the cut.

He has the Tigers as his No. 21 team in his rankings. He cited the return of [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag] for why he included Auburn.

The Tigers will lose their best player in All-American Jabari Smith, but guards K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green Jr. return in the backcourt from a team that tailed off early but was in line for a No. 1 seed in February.

Auburn finished the season 28-6 and despite winning the SEC regular-season championship lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Miami.

In addition to those two, Auburn will return starters [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag] and [autotag]Allen Flannigan[/autotag]. [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] is also expected to slide back into the starting lineup with the departures of Smith and [autotag]Walker Kessler[/autotag].

While Auburn has plenty of returning production, Bruce Pearl and the staff are working hard to add more talent. They have a commitment from five-star center Yohan  Traore, the second highest-rated commit in program history, and signed four-star wing Chance Westry and three-star point guard Tre Donaldson.

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