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Jason Caldwells Monday morning quarterback column

Jason Caldwell

~4 minutes

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Equal footing

By my count there were 15 games this week in college basketball that saw a ranked team lose to an unranked team. Of those 15, 12 were on the road as teams continue to struggle playing away from home this year. While we focus on Auburn and fans here live and die with the Tigers, the simple truth is that coach Bruce Pearl’s team isn’t any different than the other good teams in the country. At home, Auburn is as good as anyone. On the road, they are very vulnerable. That’s the same story with every team in the nation at the moment.

The key for this team is going to be winning at home. With South Carolina and Kentucky up this week, beating the Gamecocks and Wildcats is the most important thing for the Tigers at the moment. Going to Georgia will be a challenge and Tennessee in Knoxville will be very difficult, but Auburn’s other game is at Missouri. If the Tigers take care of business at home and split the Georgia and Tennessee games, the Tigers would finish at 14-4 in league play. You do that and you’ll have a great chance to finish in the top four in the league and challenge for the SEC title.

Big road win for women’s basketball

Auburn got a road win on Sunday, going to Missouri and beating the Tigers 70-59 behind 24 points for Honest Scott-Grayson. It was the fourth-straight 20-point game for the guard as coach Johnnie Harris’ group continues to make strides. The Tigers are now 15-8 overall and 4-6 in SEC play with a home game against Kentucky coming up on Thursday at 6 p.m. before a road game in Tuscaloosa on Sunday. While there is a road game at LSU ahead, Auburn has home games against Texas A&M and Miss. State before a road trip to Florida to end things. 

One more win would equal last season’s 16 wins, which was the most for an Auburn team since the Tigers made the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 and finished 22-10 overall and 9-7 in SEC play. 

Record setting weekend for No. 1 men’s golf team

Despite finishing third in the Amer Air tournament in Hawaii, the Auburn men’s golf team set a school record for shooting a total of 58-under par in three rounds. 

“I’m very proud of our level of play this week,” head coach Nick Clinard said. “We hung in there and competed with some elite-level competitors. It’s the best performance we’ve had in a spring opener in quite some time, which is a great sign of what’s to come for this team. We’ll head home proud of our body of work but hungry to be even stronger the next time we step out there.”

Freshman Jackson Koivun tied the school record for 54 holes, shooting a total of 17-under par for the tournament. It’s the second time this year that the freshman has matched the school record for lowest 54-hole score.’

Stepping up

Chase Allsup came to Auburn as one of the top signees in his class, but hasn’t been the consistent pitcher yet for the Tigers. As Auburn prepares for the season opener this weekend against Eastern Kentucky at Plainsman Park, the junior RHP has continued to put together strong outing after strong outing in the preseason and looks poised to take the next step in 2024. With a record of 2-2 in two seasons and an ERA of 4.69 in 43 appearances, Allsup has started just eight games but looks to be a weekend guy for the Tigers this season. Showcasing a fastball in the mid 90’s and improving off speed stuff, Allsup’s development is one of the keys for Auburn’s success this season.