Auburn coach Bruce Pearl views upcoming schedule an opportunity to prove Tigers' grit in college hoops
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl shared his thoughts on scheduling his team against four AP preseason Top 25 teams Houston, Iowa State, Duke and Purdue in its nonconference games for the 2024-25 college basketball season.
During the halftime interview of the Auburn-Vanderbilt college football game on Saturday, Pearl told SEC Network host Peter Burns the schedule was built for players who chose Auburn and dreamt of playing against the best teams in the nation.
“We worked so hard to get our program to a place where those teams are going to want to play us. Like, they believe an opportunity to play against Auburn is a quality win. That wasn’t the case 10 years ago," Pearl said (per On3.com).
“I know student-athletes come to Auburn because they want to be able to play against the best. It’s a real responsibility to us representing the SEC, to play that schedule and beat some of those teams.”
The Auburn Tigers rank No. 11 in the AP preseason poll and they're lined to play No. 4 Houston on Nov. 9, No. 5 Iowa State (November 25), No. 7 Duke (December 4) and No. 14 Purdue (December 21) before they get their hands on SEC competition starting on Jan. 4 against Missouri.
Pearl pointed out that having those early tests against stronger teams in the nation would benefit the team in the long run, especially since the SEC has nine teams that could be ranked in the Top 25.
Bruce Pearl's Auburn aces two exhibition games before the start of the 2024-25 college basketball season
Auburn played two exhibition games during the week and won both of them. The Tigers started their tuneup games against the Furman Paladins on Oct. 27 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena and secured a 83-62 victory in front of 4,017 fans.
Senior forward/center Johni Broome finished with a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds and freshman Tahaad Pettiford added 13.
On Friday, Auburn was back on the court and played NCAA Tournament qualifiers Florida Atlantic. The game wasn't as close as expected, with the Tigers trampling the Owls 102-70 at the Neville Arena.
Miles Kelly and Johni Broome led the team with 15 points each as four other Auburn players scored in double figures. Jahki Howard finished with 14 while Denver Jones, Tahaad Pettiford and JP Pegues added 13, 12 and 11 markers respectively.
Both exhibition games helped showcase Auburn's readiness ahead of its regular-season opener against Vermont on Nov. 6.