AUBURN, Ala. – When Auburn scheduled a road game at North Carolina State this year, it was all about opportunity. Head coach Bruce Pearl has said time and again that he's not afraid to play anybody or play anywhere, and that includes a trip to Tobacco Road to take on an NCAA Tournament from a year ago that is off to a 9-1 start this season.
The Tigers, also 9-1 and currently ranked No. 7, have a chance to make a statement and notch one of the better non-conference road victories by any SEC team on Saturday.
"If you look at the road wins in the league, there aren't that many great road wins in the league," Pearl said. "There are some great neutral-site wins. But this is a real opportunity for us, if we can take advantage of it. We'll have to play our best game. I would say Duke has been our best opponent that we've played, no criticism of anyone else, but I would say that NC State will be next."
"Coach said the other day in practice that this will probably be one of the biggest road wins for anybody in the SEC," added senior Bryce Brown. "So I feel like if we get this one, we have an edge over all the teams in the SEC."
It won't be easy, though. The 9-1 start from NC State is no fluke. The Wolfpack have already beaten Vanderbilt and Penn State in neutral-site games, and their only loss came at Wisconsin by four in a game that they led most of the way. They average 88.9 points per game and shoot 51.5 percent from the floor, which both rank in the top 10 nationally, and they have won 10 straight games at home dating back to last year.
"It's going to be a really good game," Pearl said. "That's exactly why we scheduled it. We want to be able to go to an ACC team. We want to be able to go to Tobacco Road."
"You know you have to bring it," Brown said. "You definitely have to bring it or it's going to show. You're going to be left behind. I'm going to come with everything I've got. I know my guys are, too."
The game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday from PNC Arena in Raleigh. Rod Bramblett and Sonny Smith will have the radio call on 93.9 Tiger FM, online at AuburnTigers.com and on the TuneIn app. The game will also be televised on ESPN2 with Doug Sherman and Sean Farnham on the call.
Player to watch: Anfernee McLemore
In his third season as the anchor of the Auburn defense, Anfernee McLemore has made his presence known. Since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, nobody in the SEC has swatted more shots in less than 40 games than McLemore's 92 (37 games). On the flip side, the junior has shown a soft touch from deep as he's knocked down 24 3-pointers the past two seasons after hitting just one as a freshman.
Inside the series: North Carolina State
Auburn is 3-5 all-time against North Carolina State and 0-3 against them on the road. The two teams split four games from 1926 to 1932, and the series was not renewed again until 1969 when Auburn dropped a 76-69 game in Raleigh. The Tigers defeated the Wolfpack at home in 1970 before losing on the road in 1975. Auburn lost the most recent battle in the 2009 Glenn Wilkes Classic at Daytona Beach.
The Tigers are 4-12 all-time in road games against ACC teams.
King Harper
After scoring a career-high 31 points in Auburn's win over UAB on Saturday, Jared Harper now has 15 career 20-point games with coming this season. Harper, who is averaging 16.2 points per game this season, is only 24 points shy of becoming the 38th member of Auburn's 1,000-point club. He is also just six assists from reaching the 350-assist plateau. Only five players in program history have recorded 1,000 career points and 350 career assists.
Return to sender
As a team, Auburn is averaging 6.6 blocks per game this season, which is fourth in the country. The Tigers set a new program record last season with 180 blocks, and they have two of the program's top eight all-time shot blockers on their current roster with Horace Spencer (141, T5th) and McLemore (129, 8th).
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
