Auburn’s Bruce Pearl agrees thrilling showdown with Purdue in Birmingham on December 21: Reports
Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers are set to lace up in the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex against Matt Painter’s Purdue Boilermakers on December 21, 2024. It will kickstart a multi-year series between two of the top programs in college basketball, with the final rendition to occur on December 20, 2025, in Indianapolis.
The two teams have played three games previously, with the first one being a close encounter favoring the Tigers in 1985. Since then, Purdue has won back-to-back games with double-digit differentials, once in 2001 NIT and the other in 2016 (Cancun Challenge).
Both teams are coming from a promising run in the 2023-24 season. Auburn was the top team in a stacked Southeastern Conference and won the SEC Tournament Championship in Nashville. Meanwhile, Purdue was the top contender last season as they made their first NCAA championship appearance since 1969.
Nevertheless, the 2024-25 season brings plenty of challenges for both programs. Auburn posted 27 wins last year but ended the season in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Moreover, the Boilermakers will start a post-Zach Edey era and will have the pressure of replicating their recent years’ success.
Purdue was undefeated in non-conference games last season and has an active streak of 35 wins in the last three years.
Bruce Pearl dedicated to putting Auburn through the toughest non-conference season in program history
Even when Bruce Pearl was fully immersed in one of his charitable ventures, the coach ensured to make a staunch statement to his roster. He said that the 2024-25 nonconference schedule will be the toughest stretch in program history
“The jump from high school to college basketball is enormous, and especially enormous when we’re gonna play a non-conference schedule... we’re gonna have the toughest non-conference schedule that we’ve ever had,” Pearl said during an interview at Alexander City’s Willow Point Golf & Country Club in May.
The Tigers head to Hawaii for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational from November 25 to 27. There, they will see some of the best programs in the nation like UConn (current champions), North Carolina, Michigan and others.
From there, Auburn will face Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils on December 4 for the SEC/ACC Challenge before meeting Purdue.