The Stretch 4: This time, Auburn gets a Quad 1 game in Atlanta
What a difference a year makes for Auburn, which has a high-quality non-conference test this weekend against Ohio State.
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(Steven Leonard/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — This time last year, Auburn basketball was an analytically impressive team just waiting for its opportunity to get a signature win.
On December 13, 2023, Auburn won a neutral-site contest in its home state, but it came against small-school UNC Asheville.
A few days earlier, it had beaten Indiana — a brand name but one in the midst of an underwhelming season — in Atlanta during the Holiday Hoopsgiving.
It was also a few days away from beating a star-studded USC team that would finish with a losing record.
Auburn wouldn’t get a Quadrant 1 win until February 7 against Alabama. The Tigers only had four chances before that point, too.
This year, Auburn will go back to Atlanta for the Holiday Hoopsgiving event. This time, it will face an Ohio State team that is No. 20 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, putting the matchup firmly in Quadrant 1 territory.
“They've beaten Texas already and they lost at the buzzer to Pittsburgh, which was a tough loss,” Bruce Pearl noted Thursday. “This is a top-20 opponent on Saturday on a neutral site.”
A week after this showdown, Auburn will go back up north in Alabama to Birmingham — only to face a Purdue team that played for a national championship last season and is inside the top 30 in the NET.
And, of course, Auburn will have been battle-tested by that point. The Tigers lost their first Quad 1 opportunities last season. They’ve already won their first four this season.
A lot has changed for this program in the past calendar year, and most of it has been for the better. Auburn has faced one of the toughest schedules in college basketball and only has a loss at a beyond-loaded Duke against its record.
The Tigers, which reloaded their roster in the offseason around several veteran returning talents, have KenPom’s No. 1 offense in the country. They also have the No. 1 player in the country in Johni Broome, who has been dominant in Auburn’s march to the No. 2 ranking in the traditional Associated Press poll.
Even though Auburn will be favored — and will have close to a home-court advantage in nearby Atlanta — it’s going to take a well-played game to beat Ohio State. The Buckeyes have already played four top-40 teams and have scored 80-plus points in all six of their wins this season.
But the Tigers have been playing well for the vast majority of this excellent start, and they’re ready to treat the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks like their own.
“Man, it's like, every time we go on the road, I feel like it's almost like a home game,” guard Denver Jones said. “I really appreciate the support that we get from the fans. … I really didn't expect to see many Auburn fans in Maui — and as many fans as we had at Duke. I feel like our fan support is, like, very great. It doesn't even feel like an away game all the time.”
(Steven Leonard/Auburn Tigers)
Gotta deliver on defense
While Auburn’s offense has been ahead of its defense so far this season, it’s not like the Tigers have been lacking on the latter end of the floor.