The Stretch 4: One more test for Auburn before No. 1 Houston
Auburn has a monster game this weekend in Birmingham. It's got to take care of business against an intriguing Wofford squad first.
AUBURN — The AP Top 25 poll doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter in November.
But it was still on the mind of Auburn head coach Steven Pearl on Monday afternoon.
When Pearl tried to get into the media room at Neville Arena for his scheduled interview session, he found that his usual backdoor entrance was locked.
“Drop two spots in the AP poll, and we can’t even get into our own press conference,” Pearl joked.
If there was a time to pay attention to the rankings in the early season, though, this week makes much more sense than usual.
On Monday afternoon, Auburn fell from its preseason ranking of No. 20 to No. 22. While it’s easy to assume that going to overtime with Bethune-Cookman on Opening Night was the reason behind that, it had much more to do with North Carolina beating Kansas and Michigan State beating Arkansas. Those two teams jumped both Auburn and Tennessee, which went 2-0 against Mercer and Northern Kentucky last week.
Meanwhile, Houston — Auburn’s Sunday opponent in Birmingham — swapped places with Purdue, moving from No. 2 to No. 1. Purdue, which Auburn will also play later this season, had a much closer-than-expected call with Oakland on Friday night.
That result was brought up by Pearl on Monday, and for good reason: Oakland was picked to finish No. 2 in the Horizon League and gave the top-ranked team in the country an extremely tough game. Milwaukee was picked to finish No. 1 in the Horizon League and got beaten soundly by Wofford, which Auburn hosts Tuesday night.
“For Wofford to be able to handle that team caught my attention,” Pearl said. “It caught our guys’ attention. We’re gonna have our hands full with a team that’s hungry and obviously excited to get an opportunity to come to Neville Arena and play us.”
Auburn and Wofford could be Exhibits A and B when it comes to not knowing what to expect from teams this early in the season. Auburn had to rally to beat Bethune-Cookman in overtime and then routed Merrimack a few days later. Wofford only scored 46 points in a loss to George Mason and then scored 86 on Milwaukee.
Before looking ahead to Houston, Auburn is going to have to take care of business against Wofford — a team that was at the same NCAA Tournament site in Lexington back in March, falling to Tennessee by only 15 in the first round.
Wofford’s former head coach, Dwight Perry, was let go by the university in September after reports claimed several players received impermissible benefits. He was replaced by former Virginia Tech assistant Kevin Giltner, who was named as Wofford’s new head coach on the same day that Pearl was elevated at Auburn.
“We’re gonna have our hands full,” Pearl said. “It’s a team that’s playing with a little bit of confidence right now, so it’s a great opportunity for us to learn and to grow.”
And where does Auburn need to grow the most Tuesday night? Let’s just ask freshman forward Sebastian Williams-Adams.
“My main thing is making sure we’re alert on defense,” Williams-Adams said. “There are times where we will start having defensive lags. That just won’t cut it at this level, let’s be honest. Having a more defensive mindset is the mentality going into this game. … I think we are one of — if not the best — team in the country offensively.
“But I also know right now that, defensively, we’re not worth squat. We’re going to have to get better at that.”
You heard the man.
To get you prepared for Auburn’s home game with Wofford before that high-profile showdown with Houston, here is the latest edition of The Stretch 4.
