12/28/22 Articles

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How to watch the Auburn basketball game vs the Florida Gators

Zac Blackerby

~2 minutes

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Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers start SEC play Wednesday night against the Florida Gators. 

After going 10-2 in nonconference play, the Tigers look to defend their reign as the SEC champions. The Gators enter conference play at 7-5. 

The Tigers are coming off a win against Washington. Auburn is one of seven SEC schools to pull off a true road win this season in non-conference play. The Tigers joined Alabama who beat Houston and Florida who beat Florida State among those schools with a quality road win against a Power 6 opponent.

How to watch the Auburn basketball game vs the Florida Gators

The Auburn Tigers and the Florida Gators battle at 6:00 pm CT on ESPN2. Kevin Fitzgerald and Jimmy Dykes will be on the call. 

The radio broadcast will be on the Auburn Sports Network. Andy Burcham, Sonny Smith, and Brad Law will have the action. 

Fun fact

Per a release from Auburn, It will be a reunion between Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl and Florida Head Coach Todd Golden, who previously served as director of basketball operations and assistant coach on the Plains from 2014-16. It is also the first-time meeting between the two on opposite sidelines.

Series History

After splitting the two games last year, Auburn leads 90-82 in the all-time series with Florida including a 57-27 all-time record on its home court versus the Gators.

The Tigers have only beaten the Gators three times in the last decade (W, 76-62) on Feb. 5, 2019 at Auburn, (W, 65-62) on March 16, 2019 in Nashville and (W, 85-73) on Jan. 8, 2022 at Auburn.

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#PMARSHONAU: Pearl ready to write another chapter in Auburn success story

Phillip Marshall

3–4 minutes

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In a half century of covering Auburn athletics in one way or another, I have seen some of the great players and great teams in Southeastern Conference history and even in the history of college athletics. I’ve seen teams of which little to nothing was expected do great things.

The turnaround Bruce Pearl has overseen as Auburn’s basketball coach is near the top of the list of remarkable accomplishments.

As he opens his eighth Auburn season tonight, Pearl has taken the Tigers to heights no one could have predicted. He took over a program that had been through the worst four-year stretch in program history, and that was a program that had enjoyed few periods of sustained success.

Pearl got it done, but it didn’t happen overnight. Pearl’s first two Auburn teams had losing records. In his first three seasons, his SEC record was 16-38. But always there was the feeling something special was ahead. Even in those days, the Tigers played before sellout crowds.

Over the following five seasons, Auburn won more SEC games than anybody. Pearl led the way to two regular-season championships and an SEC Tournament championship. His 2019 team went to the Final Four and might have won the national championship had it not been for a stunning no-call on a clear double-dribble in a semifinal matchup with eventual champion Virginia.

Tonight, Auburn will take a 10-2 record into its game against Florida at Neville Arena. The Tigers haven’t been overly impressive in winning those 10 games, but they are ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press poll. On the other side of the court tonight will be a coach who knows the Auburn story better than most. It was Pearl who opened the door to the big-time for Golden.

Golden met Steven Pearl, Bruce’s son and an Auburn assistant, when they played together in Australia in 2006. He played for the elder Pearl three years later and played professionally for two years in Israel. When Bruce Pearl took the Auburn job in the spring of 2014, he reached out to Golden, then an assistant at Columbia.

Golden started in an off-the-court job, was promoted after one year and eventually became the head coach at San Francisco. He landed the Florida job after last season. He knew from the start that something unprecedented was happening at Auburn.

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“I just wake up every morning thankful I’m a part of it, because I know how successful we are going to be,” Golden said in an interview in 2015. “We are continuing to build this foundation we started last year, continuing to bring more talented players into the program, guys that have great attitudes and great work ethics. If we can continue to do what we’ve been doing, we’re going to be in very good shape. And it won’t take that long.”

His words were prophetic.

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Pearl counting on defense as Auburn opens SEC play vs. Gators

Mark Murphy

5–6 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–As his basketball team begins its SEC schedule, Coach Bruce Pearl is looking for a good defensive performance from his Auburn Tigers when they take on the Florida Gators at Neville Arena on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CST and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

“Defense has carried us and that needs to continue,” said Pearl, who predicts that the 18-game league schedule will be “a grind” because of the quality of teams across the league.

Auburn is ranked 12th nationally as a team in defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.com. Tennessee is ranked No. 1, Mississippi State is No. 5, Arkansas No. 9, Kentucky No. 13 and Alabama is 19th.

The Tigers, who have a 10-2 record, are allowing opponents to score just 62.1 points per game while shooting 38.8 percent from the field. That ranks 31st nationally and third among SEC teams.

In the SEC the Tigers are ranked fourth in points allowed behind Mississippi State, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Opponents are making just 27.1 percent of their three-point shots vs. the Tigers, which ranks 11th nationally and second in the SEC.

“Florida does a good job with their ball-screen offense,” Pearl said. “They force your five man (center) to guard in ball screen, and then they get it to (Colin) Castleton in advantage-disadvantage situations, and then you have got to guard him.”

Castleton, a 6-10, 250 graduate student, is Florida’s top player. He leads the team in scoring (15.8 points), rebounds (7.6) and blocked shots (2.5 per game). His team will bring a 7-5 record to Neville Arena where Auburn defeated the Gators 85-73 last season before losing the rematch 63-62 at Gainesville. Castleton played very well in both matchups.

The Tigers come into Wednesday’s contest after splitting a pair of true road games, losing 74-71 at Southern Cal before defeating Washington 84-61.

Asked if the trip was good for his team, Pearl said, “It was helpful because the win over Washington moved us 20 points in the net (NCAA net rankings–a road win against a Power 5 team that has beaten some good teams.

“I do think it does show the importance of matchups,” the coach added. “We are not 24 points better than Washington, but the way the systems have matched up the last two times we have played, for one reason or another, it was a really good matchup.

“It doesn’t get talked about nearly often enough, and it is nobody's fault, but certain things that we do bother people way more than it ought to, and certain things that we do actually bring out the best in some people, and vice versa,” Pearl said.

On the subject on matchups the SEC opener will be the first time Pearl has coached against Todd Golden, who spent two seasons (2014-16) on the Auburn staff. Golden, who is in his first season leading the Gators, was head coach the previous three years for the USF Dons.

The relationship goes back to when Pearl coached Golden. “I am very proud of Todd for his work as a student-athlete,” Auburn’s coach said. “Obviously, we won gold together and he was my point guard in 2009 at Maccabi USA, which was very exciting to experience that with him. Steven (Pearl) and Todd played together on that gold medal team in 2009.

“When he got into coaching and was done playing professionally, he called me and asked me ‘what do you think about this profession?’ Just like my son, I tried to talk him out of it. I said, ‘You’re way too smart for this. You’re bright. Go do something else.’

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“He actually did do something else for a little while, working in New York, I think. He called me and said, ‘I think I am going to take this deal at Columbia, a part-time assistant. I was like ‘alright, there you go.’ Then I got the Auburn job the next year and asked him to come with me. He got a taste of the SEC. He got a chance to be the associate head coach out at San Francisco and took over and has done a phenomenal job. It’s a great story. Obviously, very proud of him.”

Auburn Hoops Notes: The Tigers are 4-4 in SEC openers in the Pearl Era. Auburn leads the all-time series 90-82 and is 57-27 vs. the Gators in games played in Auburn, but the Gators are 5-2 at Neville Arena...AU continues to lead the country in blocked shots at 7.1 per game. Florida is sixth nationally at 5.9 blocks per game...Auburn finished its previous game at Washington with a season-high 22 assists led by seven from freshman guard Tre Donaldson...Donaldson and fellow point guard Wendell Green will be matched against graduate transfer Kyle Lofton, a three-time All-Atlantic 10 Conference guard at St. Bonaventure who is third in the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.79-1...Last Wednesday the Tigers set season-highs for field goal percentage (55.9) and three-point shooting (47.1 percent).

Tigers Prepare for Gators and Castleton

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Gators, Castleton look to cause more problems for Auburn basketball team

Mark Murphy

6–7 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–Auburn will open its SEC basketball schedule vs. a team that has given the Tigers troubles in recent years and a player who has done the same thing. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CST on Wednesday as the Florida Gators visit Neville Arena.

It will be the first time the Tigers and Gators have played in an SEC opener in 30 years. ESPN2 will televise the matchup, which features the first time Florida’s new head coach, Todd Golden, has taken a team to play his former boss, Bruce Pearl.

The Gators come into the contest with a 7-5 record to face a 10-2 Auburn team, which is ranked 20th in this week’s AP Top 25 and No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Gators were among teams receiving votes for a ranking early in the season.

Golden, who had a successful run as head coach of the University of San Francisco Dons, worked at Auburn from 2014-16 as director of basketball operations his first season on the Plains. In season two on Pearl’s staff he was an assistant coach.

Taking on a rebuilding project at USF, his three-season record with the Dons was 57-36. Last season Golden took USF to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998.

The last time the Tigers and Gators played, current Georgia head coach Mike White’s team upset second-ranked Auburn 63-62 at Gainesville. Colin Castleton, who leads this season’s team in scoring (15.6 points) and rebounding (7.6), helped the Gators pull off the victory with 19 points, eight rebounds, three blocked shots, two steals and one assist.

Castleton, a 6-11, 250 graduate student, scored 22 points and pulled in nine rebounds in Auburn’s 85-73 home victory over the Gators last season. In his first season with Florida, after transferring from Michigan, he scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Gators won at Auburn 74-57 in the only meeting between the teams during the 2020-21 season.

Asked if coaching against Castleton three previous times will help Auburn prepare for him, Pearl said, "I don't think that makes any difference. I can never play somebody, watch them play a few games and know them pretty well so it doesn't really matter. I'm tired of him kicking our ass, is what I'm tired of. I don't know him well enough to stop him.

"We had the National Defensive Player of the Year (Walker Kessler) last year, and we couldn't stop him. He's a focal point for what they do. They've got some shooters to make it difficult to double-team him, but we've got some inside players as well. Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell are really good players, really good defenders. That's going to be a huge matchup–(6-11, 300 Jason Jitoboh) Jitoboh and Castleton against Dylan and Johni."

The Tigers will be counting on 6-10, 235 sophomore Johni Broome and 6-11, 256 junior Dylan Cardwell to match up against Castleton. Both of those players earned praise from Pearl for their play in Auburn’s previous outing, an 84-61 victory last Wednesday at Washington.

Jaylin Williams guards Colin Castleton in last season's Auburn victory over the Gators. (Photo: John Reed, USA TODAY Sports)

Broome is averaging 12.2 points per game, second on the team to Wendell Green’s 12.6. Broome leads the Tigers in rebounds at 8.2 per game and he has 31 of Auburn’s 85 blocked shots.

Cardwell is averaging 5.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in a reserve role. He has made 28 of his 32 field goal attempts for 87.5 percent and has 27 blocked shots.

Going into Wednesday’s contest Auburn has won just three of its last 10 games vs. Florida, which has cut Auburn’s lead in the all-time series to 90-82. The teams are scheduled to face each other only once this season.

The Tigers won’t have to face Tyree Appleby, who scored 26 points vs. Auburn last season in Gainesville. The guard is a graduate transfer at Wake Forest. Auburn’s top scorer in Gainesville last season, Jabari Smith with 28 points, is an NBA rookie.

This 2022-23 Florida team features three players scoring in double figures. Will Richard, a 6-4, 206 sophomore guard, is averaging 10.7 points and 4.1 rebounds. Trey Bonham, a 6-0, 170 junior guard, is averaging 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

The other expected starters are 6-3, 188 graduate guard Kyle Lofton (8.4 points 2.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists) and 6-9, 200 sophomore forward Alex Fudge (8.2 points, 5.4 rebounds).

Kowacie Reeves, a 6-6, 192 sophomore guard, is averaging 9.9 points and is making 43.2 percent of his threes for a team that is connecting on 35.6 of those attempts. The Gators are shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 73.8 percent at the foul line.

Florida’s opponents are making 41.4 percent of their field goals, including 35.8 percent from three-point range.

The Gators are plus two in rebounding margin and are averaging 11.5 turnovers per contest while forcing 13.4 turnovers.

The Gators lost their previous game, falling 62-53 to Oklahoma in a contest played at Charlotte, N.C. Florida led by as many 11 points, but struggled with its shooting in a game the Gators made 2-22 threes. Before that they defeated the Ohio Bobcats 82-48 in a game played at Tampa. The Tigers and Gators have not faced a common opponent this season.

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In addition to losing to the Sooners, the Gators dropped games to Florida Atlantic (76-74), Xavier (90-83), future Auburn opponent West Virginia (84-55) and unbeaten and No. 2 ranked UConn (75-54).

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Gameday odds for Auburn vs. Florida

JD McCarthy

2–3 minutes

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The No. 23 Auburn Tigers are looking to start SEC play with a win against the Florida Gators Wednesday night

Auburn (10-2) is making its return to Neville Arena after a 1-1 West coast trip and is favored in their first SEC contest of the season. Bet MGM has Auburn favored by 5.5 points over the 7-5 Gators.

Buy Tigers Tickets

The Gators have not played since Dec. 20, when they lost to Oklahoma 62-53. They have experience playing in hostile environments this season, they beat rival Florida State in Tallahassee, Florida already.

Auburn played a little more recently than the Gators, beating Washington 84-61 on Dec. 21. The Tigers are a perfect 7-0 at home to start the season.

The game is set to start at 6 p.m. CT and will be on ESPN2. Here is everything you need to know to bet the game.

The lines, courtesy of BetMGM

• Point spread: Auburn -5.5
• Auburn Money Line: -250
• UF Money Line: +195
• Over-under: 139.5

Click here to place your bets at BetMGM.

Florida is experiencing the expected growing pains of a new coach in their first season under Todd Golden and has struggled to consistently execute to start the season. While center Colin Castleton is a good player, Auburn has great defenders down low and should be able to slow him down.

Auburn’s defense should be able to take advantage of the Gator’s offense and lead Auburn to their 11th win of the season and let them cover the 5.5-point spread.

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Auburn and SEC basketball news & notes

Mark Murphy

7–9 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers will begin Southeastern Conference play on Wednesday night as defending league champions when they play host to the Florida Gators. Last season the Tigers began league play with an 11-1 record and this season’s basketball team is off to a 10-2 start.

Auburn entered its SEC schedule last season ranked 11th in both the AP and coaches polls on an eight-game winning streak prior to defeating the visiting LSU Tigers 70-55.

Going into Wednesday’s 6 p.m. CST tipoff (ESPN2 television coverage) vs. the 8-5 Gators, Auburn is ranked 20th in the AP Top 25 and 23rd in the coaches poll.

The Tigers bounced back from a 74-71 loss at USC on Dec. 18th with an 84-61 victory at Washington last Wednesday in their final game before Christmas.

“It was a good, solid defensive effort particularly in the first half,” Pearl said about his team’s performance at Washington where the Huskies scored just 23 points in the opening half on 21 percent shooting.

The coach said he liked how his team played offensively in the second half when the Tigers made 21-29 field goals and 5-9 three-pointers. “We got great looks inside and we shot the ball well outside,” he said.

Pearl added, “It was a really clean game and a good way to get into conference play.”

To open SEC play Auburn is eighth in the league in scoring at 73.67 points per game and fourth in points allowed at 62.08. Missouri is the top scoring team at 88.75 per game and Mississippi State is allowing the fewest points at 52.58.

The Tigers will be looking to extend their homecourt winning streak to 26 games on Wednesday. With Pearl as head coach the Tigers have a 105-29 record at home and are 46-26 in home SEC games. AU’s homecourt winning streak dates back to the final two on-campus games during the 2020-21 season. Gonzaga has then nation’s longest home winning streak at 73 followed by Texas Tech at 28 and Kentucky at 26.

Auburn Hoops Notes: The Tigers continue to lead college basketball in blocked shots with 7.1 per game. Iona is next at 6.2. Johni Broome leads the Tigers in the category with 2.62 per contest, which ranks eighth nationally. Dylan Cardwell is 20th with 2.25 blocks per game. Western Kentucky’s Jamarion Sharp, a seven-foot-five center, is the nation’s block leader at 4.45 per contest...Broome passed the 1,000 points mark as a collegian on Nov. 15th vs. Winthrop. Junior guard Wendell Green did it Dec. 14th vs. Georgia State. Another Tiger, graduate transfer guard Zep Jasper, is 85 points shy of the 1,000 mark...Broome is sixth in the league in rebounding at 8.2 per game and 20th in scoring at 12.2 points. He is seventh in field goal percentage making exactly half of his attempts...Green is tied for 10th in the league in assists at 3.67 per contest and is 17th in scoring at 12.6 points. He is sixth in free throw shooting percentage at 80.6...As a team Auburn was picked fourth in the SEC preseason poll behind Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee.

Dylan Cardwell prepares to block a shot during an Auburn victory at Neville Arena. (Photo: John Reed, USA TODAY Sports)

AU Women’s Hoops Notes: Coach Johnnie Harris will take her Tigers on the road to open league play. Auburn will tip off at 6 p.m. CST on Thursday at Ole Miss. The Tigers, who have won seven consecutive games, are 10-2. Ole Miss, which is 11-2, is fourth in the SEC in scoring defense allowing 52.85 points per outing. Auburn is fourth in scoring, averaging 78.25 points...The Tigers average 6.09 fewer turnovers per game than their opponents to rank second in the SEC. Auburn is also second in the league in three-point shooting accuracy (38.2 percent), steals (11.67 per game) and blocked shots (6.25 per game)...The Tigers are hoping to get their leading scorer and rebounder back for Thursday’s game. Aicha Coulibaly, a 6-0 junior who has missed the past three games with a knee problem, is averaging 16.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. Senior guard Honesty Scott-Grayson is next at 15.8 points....The Tigers are making 72.5 percent of their free throws. The team leader is freshman point guard Sydney Shaw at 87.5 percent. A dozen players have attempted free throws with the lowest percentage from six-foot-five backup junior center Precious Johnson at 61.1 percent.

SEC Men's Hoops Notes: Missouri, which was forecast to finish 11th in the league’s preseason poll, has been the most surprising SEC team so far with its 11-1 record. New head coach Dennis Gates and his Tigers finished pre-conference play with an impressive 93-71 neutral court victory over then No. 16 Illinois. Senior Kobe Brown sparked the upset with 31 points, eight assists, five rebounds and four steals. Missouri leads the league in assists per game at 20.0 and steals (12.75)...Auburn’s Pearl said that Alabama’s 71-65 road win vs. then top-ranked Houston is the most impressive game by an SEC team so far this season. The Tide leads the league in rebounding margin at plus 11.17 per game...K.J. Williams of LSU, a transfer from Murray State, is the SEC’s top scorer at 19.3 points per contest. He is fifth in rebounding at 8.3 playing for LSU’s new head coach, Matt McMahon, who made the move to Baton Rouge from Murray State along with 6-10, 250 fifth-year senior. Williams averaged 18 points and 8.4 rebounds last season for the Racers. LSU, which is 11-1, was picked to finish eighth in the league.

Another new SEC coach off to a stronger than expected start, Chris Jans of Mississippi State, has been winning with defense. His Bulldogs are allowing opponents to make just 35.8 percent of their field goals and 28.4 percent of their threes. The last Mississippi State team to have a better defensive scoring average after 12 games was the 1955-56 Bulldogs under the direction of Coach Babe McCarthy in his first season leading MSU...Tennessee is just behind Mississippi State in points allowed at 52.75 per game and the Vols are outscoring opponents by a league best 21.92 points per contest...The Vols rank in the Top 10 nationally in seven categories, including second in offensive rebounds at 15.2 per game heading into their league opener at Ole Miss. Coach Rick Barnes is 3-4 in SEC openers...Perhaps the most surprising loss by an SEC team so far this season is Ole Miss falling 68-65 at home to the University of North Alabama. Prior to that game the Lions had never defeated an SEC basketball team...Arkansas hit its first seven shots to close its pre-conference schedule with an 85-51 home win over UNC-Asheville. The Razorbacks have won their last 16 games played at Bud Walton Arena...Georgia is 7-0 at home under new head coach Mike White, who previously coached the Florida Gators. Georgia will open its SEC schedule at home a week from Wednesday. The Bulldogs play their final pre-conference game on Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum vs. Rider.

SEC Team Records

Arkansas 11-1

LSU 11-1

Mississippi State 11-1

Missouri 11-1

Auburn 10-2

Alabama 10-2

Tennessee 10-2

Georgia 9-3

Kentucky 8-3

Ole Miss 8-4

Florida 7-5

Texas A&M 6-5

South Carolina 6-6

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Vanderbilt 6-6

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4 things Auburn basketball needs to be successful in SEC play

Richard Silva

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN — For the sixth time in the past seven years, Auburn basketball has started a season with at least 10 wins through its first 12 contests.

The Tigers (10-2) began the 2022-23 season by rattling off eight consecutive victories, holding teams to an average of 58 points per game and scoring 73. But Auburn is 2-2 since Dec. 10, with a nine-point loss against Memphis and a three-point defeat against USC being the two blemishes on its record.

ALLEN FLANIGAN:'It was tough': Inside Allen Flanigan's recovery process, return to Auburn basketball

RECRUITING:Why 4-star Peyton Marshall's mom said he committed to Auburn basketball, Bruce Pearl

All of that will prove to matter little come March, though, as the real test for the No. 23 Tigers starts Wednesday with Florida (7-5) coming to Neville Arena (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2) and marking the start of SEC play for Auburn. The Tigers play one more nonconference game (at West Virginia on Jan. 28), but aside from that outlier, will be tasked with handling Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and other SEC foes the rest of the way.

Here's what needs to happen for Auburn to be successful during the next few months.

Wendell Green Jr. to be healthy, efficient

In a game against Georgia State on Dec. 14, junior guard Wendell Green Jr. injured his foot/ankle. He hobbled off the floor with his shoe off as the final seconds ticked off the clock but ultimately didn't miss any games, starting against USC four days later and at Washington on Dec. 21.

He clearly wasn't 100%, though. Green logged just 12 minutes against the Trojans and 21 against the Huskies, both below his season average of 24.7. He also shot a combined 2-of-13 from the field and missed all but one of his seven 3-point attempts during the two-game stretch.

Green is Auburn's best option offensively, the end of the floor at which the Tigers struggle most, and he needs to be at full strength for them to have a chance.

Allen Flanigan must step up

The past three games have not been particularly kind to senior wing Allen Flanigan.

Flanigan, who is now over a year removed from partially rupturing his Achilles in August 2021, shot a combined 1-of-8 from 3-point range against Georgia State, USC and Washington. He had shot 37.9% from beyond the arc through the first nine games of the season.

He's also the same player who scored 14.3 points per game in 2020-21 before his injury. Flanigan's father and assistant coach, Wes Flanigan, told the Montgomery Advertiser earlier this month he's waiting for his son to have a game that officially marks his return to what he was as a sophomore.

For Auburn's sake, that game needs to come soon.

An improved Johni Broome

Johni Broome has been a defensive force on the interior for Auburn. He's averaging 2.8 blocks per game, which puts him in the top 10 nationally, and is consistently altering opponents' shots around the rim.

His presence has helped coach Bruce Pearl supplement the loss of Walker Kessler, who left for the NBA in the offseason, but with Jabari Smith Jr. also going to the league, and his 16.9 points going with him, the Tigers need their new big man to do a bit more on the offensive end.

Broome is averaging 12.2 points per game through the first 12 games of his Auburn career, which is 4.6 points less than what he averaged at Morehead State a year ago. He's also shooting 5.5% worse this season. It's not fair to ask Broome to adjust to the elevated competition so quickly, but it's the reality of what Auburn needs him to do.

Tre Donaldson to establish himself

After practically falling out of the rotation for a brief stretch, freshman guard Tre Donaldson got an opportunity against Georgia State and seemingly grabbed hold of the backup point guard role. He's 7-of-13 from the field during the past three games, has connected on 50% of his 3-pointers and tallied seven assists against Washington. He's also averaging 17.6 minutes per game during that stretch.

His impact on the defensive end has been palpable, too, and a continued upward progression from Donaldson would give Pearl a reliable guard to run his offense when Green is on the bench.

Richard Silva is the Auburn beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

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Auburn basketball rises in newest AP Poll

 

River Wells

Tue, December 27, 2022 at 7:00 AM CST·1 min read

 

 

It hasn’t been the easiest non-conference slate for Auburn, but it looks as if the Tigers won’t be plummeting further down the AP Poll — not at the moment, at least.

After a big 84-61 win over the Washington Huskies, Auburn’s basketball team climbed a few rungs on the poll ladder Monday. The team now sits at No. 20 on the AP Poll, climbing three spots from No. 23 in the last edition of the poll.

The Washington game was Auburn’s last game before SEC play begins on Wednesday when the team will take on the Florida Gators to kick off its conference schedule. Auburn was initially ranked No. 15 in the first AP Poll, but the team suffered notable drops after losses to Memphis and USC over the past few weeks.

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The most important part of the season comes now, however, and the Tigers will look to improve its play during its conference stretch and fix their mistakes from the first half of the season.

Here’s a look at the latest AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll:

1. Purdue (40)
2. UConn (20)
3. Houston
4. Kansas
5. Arizona
6. Texas
7. Tennessee
8. Alabama
9. Arkansas
10. Gonzaga
11. UCLA
12. Baylor
13. Virginia
14. Miami
15. Wisconsin
16. Indiana
17. Duke
18. TCU
19. Kentucky
20. Auburn
21. Mississippi State
T22. Xavier, New Mexico
24. West Virginia
25. North Carolina

Others receiving votes: Charleston 102, Maryland 87, Memphis 74, Illinois 65, Ohio State 59, Virginia Tech 57, Missouri 57, San Diego State 39, Iowa State 19, Marquette 12, Texas Tech 10, Michigan State 7, Providence 6, Kansas State 5, USC 4, San Francisco 1

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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Glad to see/hear that CBP plans to play Chance at the 2/3 more going forward. We need production at the 2 more than anywhere else, and with Tre playing well at the 1 we need scoring/play making at the 2 in a bad way.