Dec. 2, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- New UAB coach Robert Ehsan might not get much out of last year's scouting report on Auburn, the one that worried about starters Cinmeon Bowers, Tyler Harris, Kareem Canty, T.J. Dunans and TJ Lang.
Three of those guys are gone and the other two are coming off the bench. Auburn's new starting lineup features three freshmen and two sophomores.
"UAB is looking at us going, 'Gosh, that's a brand new team again.' It's a completely different group."
Bruce Pearl's assessment of his Tigers is correct heading into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game in Bartow Arena in Birmingham. The freshman trio of Mustapha Heron, Danjel Purifoy and Jared Harper are Auburn's top three scorers and represent two of the top rebounders. The youth movement has Auburn with a 5-1 record. UAB is 4-3.
Auburn beat UAB 75-74 last season in the renewal of a series that had been dormant since 1999. Pearl brought the series back to life, and promises more games in Birmingham, such as the game scheduled against Middle Tennessee State next season.
"Creating interest statewide is important," Pearl said. "We've got great, great fan support in Birmingham, and we're going to have a good crowd up at Birmingham."
The tradeoff? Pearl said UAB "will be our toughest challenge to date" because of its talent and home-court advantage. Two of UAB's losses were to No. 4 Kansas and No. 12 St. Mary's. Auburn's loss was to No. 15 Purdue.
Pearl said the win over UAB last season "was one of our best wins a year ago because we beat a really good team and a really experienced team." Now, "our challenges are going to be handling their physicality, the environment because it will be really hostile.
"I am looking forward to the fact that we're going to have a great Auburn contingency in Birmingham, so it's going to have that tournament flavor and atmosphere. There's a chance that our youth will show in that game more than any to this date, and so that's why you kind of play them. So, we're excited about it, but I know we've got our hands full."
Two of Auburn's starters in last season's opener against UAB are still around. Dunans is averaging 5.5 points per game, and TJ Lang is at 3.7.
Pearl said that have been times this year when Dunans "has been really, really effective."
"We don't beat Texas Tech without him, period. But, again, in rebuilding this program the personalities, the makeup, the chemistry, the culture of our team has changed dramatically every single year because of how the roster has turned over. And so now T.J. finds himself as one of our leaders and a veteran player who is trying to help us blend in three really talented freshmen in Jared, Mustapha and Danjel.
"The good news is we're in a really good position right now where he hasn't played his best basketball yet, and he's one of our best players, and that's exciting if we can get there. Same thing with Bryce Brown. We're 5-1, and he hasn't been able to shoot the ball very well, especially the last five games. Obviously, it's mental, and that's something I think he definitely can overcome. So, when we start to get T.J. Dunans and Bryce Brown, two of our more talented players, when those guys start to play better, that's how you continue to become a pretty good basketball team. We're not there yet."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine