The Stretch 4: At long last, Auburn basketball is back(-ish)
This weekend, the Tigers will head to South Carolina for an intriguing exhibition opener against Furman. Here's what you need to know.
(David Gray/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — By all accounts, Auburn basketball has enjoyed its preseason.
But it’s also felt like it’s taken forever, as several players have said recently.
“Because we had a pretty good summer and a pretty good fall, it seems like the longest time we’ve had — that I can remember — before we played,” Bruce Pearl said Thursday. “We needed a game about two weeks ago.”
In two days, the wait will be over… somewhat.
On Sunday afternoon, Auburn will play in South Carolina, against Furman, in the first of two exhibition matchups before the season officially begins in less than two weeks.
Instead of playing an exhibition against a school from a lower division, Auburn will actually get to play a pair of Division I teams this season. Furman is expected to be a top-half team in an always competitive SoCon, while Florida Atlantic — which comes to Auburn next Friday — is rebuilding in the AAC after a great run under Dusty May.
That will lead right into the season opener on Wednesday, November 6, against a top-100 Vermont team that will be expected to win the America East once again.
“One of the things I made the guys do was circle Vermont,” Pearl said. “Like, right now, circle Vermont. That’s the one that counts. Now, these (exhibition) games matter too. We’ll keep score, and we’ll see how we do. And I’m not going to be experimenting, I’m going to be doing everything I can to win these games.
“But Vermont is the one that counts. If we don’t play very well against Furman or Florida Atlantic, I won’t be happy, I won’t be pleased. We’ll work on things. Or, if we play really well in these first couple of games, don’t get too excited about it, because these don’t count.”
This matchup against Furman will be quite different than the one Auburn had last season at home. The Tigers hosted the Paladins last season in a “secret scrimmage,” where everything happens behind closed doors and the stats aren’t officially reported.
At one point last year, Pearl points out, Furman was down 33-31 to Auburn. The Tigers eventually won, 110-77.
“We won it wearing them down a little bit,” Pearl said. “We turned them over a little bit. And we were successful. I felt good about how we played, because I thought we played really, really hard.
“Now, this is going to be public. This is not a private scrimmage.”
While the game won’t be broadcast on television or radio, there will be a crowd at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville — the same venue where Auburn played in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Instead of a lopsided warmup against a sub-Division I opponent like most exhibitions have been in the past, it’ll be more of a dress rehearsal against an opponent that would fit in perfectly on the regular-season schedule.
Oh, and there’s one other key difference: Furman’s point guard from last year’s scrimmage is now playing for Auburn.
Here’s more on JP Pegues’ upcoming homecoming, the Tiger who won’t make the trip to South Carolina this weekend, what Pearl wants to see from Auburn in this unofficial opener and some things to track in the frontcourt.