A breakdown of Auburn basketball's 2025-26 schedule (so far)

Here are more than 3,500 words on all the teams the Tigers are reportedly set to play in another one of the nation's toughest slates.

(Steven Leonard/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — Last week, a media member asked Auburn assistant Steven Pearl how the Tigers would prepare a new-look roster for such a daunting schedule next season.

“I asked Mike Burgomaster the same question when he was putting the schedule together,” Pearl said with a wry smile. “You can ask him that, too.”

Last season, Auburn faced the second-toughest schedule in all of college basketball, according to KenPom.

The Tigers played the other three Final Four teams, including two of them in non-conference play — away from home.

They took on two more top-15 teams outside of the SEC — again, away from home.

And then they won a conference that sent a record-breaking number of teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn faced the toughest schedule in program history with its best team in program history. Now, Bruce Pearl and his staff only have Tahaad Pettiford back, but the schedule doesn’t look like it’s going to be any easier.

“The competition is just as good, but we’re playing with 10 new guys,” Steven Pearl said. “I feel like it was even harder than it was a year ago, just based on what our roster is like.”

Case in point: According to the early projections from T-Rank, Auburn will have to play teams currently ranked 1, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21, 27, 29, 31, 33, 36, 37, 39 and 40.

For those keeping score at home, that’s 80% of the top five, nearly 50% of the top 15, nearly 50% of the top 20, 40% of the top 30 and 45% of the top 50.

Also, Auburn will have to play some of those teams twice — and it still could play another preseason powerhouse, depending on how its multi-team event goes.

“It’s going to be daunting, but it will obviously help us get ready for league play… and it will obviously help us get ready for the tournament,” Pearl said.

Auburn’s 2025-26 schedule, put together by the aforementioned Burgomaster and the head Pearl, hasn’t been finalized yet. The Tigers still have a couple of slots open, and only a few games have been officially announced by Auburn.

However, the vast majority of Auburn’s matchups have already been reported by those in the know around college basketball — and we also know who the Tigers will play (and where) in the SEC this season.

With that in mind, let’s take an early look at how Auburn basketball’s schedule is shaking out for next season. Here’s a game-by-game breakdown of what we know, along with a snapshot of each opponent’s roster.

A special thanks goes out to two longtime Observer subscribers and great friends of the newsletter — Ryan Sterritt and Will McLaughlin — for helping track all the schedule news for Auburn basketball during the offseason. They’ve stayed on top of things, per usual, and made it infinitely easier to put a piece like this together.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

Non-Conference Games

Wednesday, October 15: vs. Oklahoma State (Birmingham) — Exhibition

Here’s something new: On Tuesday, it was announced that Auburn will play Oklahoma State in historic Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham for a preseason exhibition. It’s part of a “Ballin in Boutwell” event that features men’s and women’s teams from across the state of Alabama. Oklahoma State is coming off a losing first season under new head coach Steve Lutz but hit the transfer portal hard this offseason. The Cowboys’ top seven projected contributors on T-Rank are all newcomers — including former LSU youngster Vyctorius Miller and Greek EuroLeague champion forward Lefteris Mantzoukas. Of note: This will be Auburn’s first basketball game in Nike.

Thursday, November 6: vs. Merrimack

According to Jon Rothstein, Auburn will host Merrimack out of the MAAC — say that three times fast — during the opening week of the season. Merrimack finished second in its conference last season but lost in the tournament semifinals. Like many schools from one-bid leagues, the Warriors are having to deal with plenty of turnover from the transfer portal yet landed a couple of interesting pieces in Stonehill stretch big Todd Brogna and LaSalle wing Andres Marrero. Impressively, Merrimack has had a top-100 defense on KenPom in each of its last three seasons, so this ought to be an interesting early paycheck game for a new-look Auburn offense.

Tuesday, November 11: vs. Wofford

According to schedule scoopster Rocco Miller, Auburn is set to face Wofford in a tune-up game before a massive trip up Highway 280. The Tigers have played the Terriers eight times in their history, yet they haven’t squared off since 2006. Wofford was an NCAA Tournament team last season, rallying to win the SoCon tournament after finishing in the middle of the standings. The Terriers played a decent first-round game against Tennessee, too, only losing by 15. Wofford is resetting its roster as well. The newcomer to watch might just be guard Nils Machowski, who played with new Auburn forward Keyshawn Hall at UCF.

Sunday, November 16: vs. Houston (Birmingham)