Auburn basketball opened its 2020-21 season against St. Joseph’s on Thanksgiving afternoon, and it showcased virtually every positive and negative that would have been expected coming into a pandemic campaign with an extremely inexperienced roster.

“If you're thinking, you know, Auburn out of the SEC and St. Joseph's out of the Atlantic 10, and you look at the teams that we had last year, I could understand why you may have walked away being disappointed in how we played,” Pearl said. “If you've paid attention to our roster, we've experienced a lot of changes. This was our first exhibition. This was our first scrimmage. This was our first game.”

The Tigers looked every bit of the explosive, free-wheeling squad they were projected to be this season. They also showed their youth quite a bit, especially in a second half in which they blew a double-digit lead.

But Auburn was the better team late and in overtime, getting plenty out of its…