‘Incredible celebration’: Auburn makes history with Tipoff at Toomer’s

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AUBURN, Ala. – In March, fans flooded Toomer's Corner and rolled the trees after Auburn beat Kentucky advance to the Final Four. It was the program's first trip to the Final Four. 

On Thursday, less than seven months after that historic victory, Toomer's Corner was once again full of Auburn basketball fans. They weren't rolling the trees this time, though. They were watching basketball on the corner of College and Magnolia as a part of the inaugural Tipoff at Toomer's event. 

That's right. There was a basketball court smack dab in the middle of downtown Auburn. 

"This took a lot of work," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "A lot of resources to try to have a really fun experience celebrating Toomer's Corner. This is a place we celebrate right here in the center of town. We've had so many great celebrations here after wins, we just thought let's tip the season off here with all of our friends and family.

"I'm just grateful. I'm grateful to the fans for coming out, I'm grateful for you guys (the media) coming out, I'm grateful to the athletic department to invest in the resources to put this thing on first-class. It was first-class."

The men's basketball team joined the women's team in a 3-point shooting contest. There was also a 3-on-3 event for both teams, and then the men closed out the night with the much-anticipated slam dunk contest. 

From revere slams to 360 dunks to jumping over Aubie, there was plenty of acrobatics and creativity shown by the Auburn players. The winner, freshman forward Isaac Okoro, earned three 10s from the judges after teammate taking a pass off the side of the backboard from teammate Tyrell Jones and throwing it down. 

"They told us a week in advance that we were going to have a dunk contest here, so throughout the week after practice, I've just been practicing my dunks," Okoro said. 

Did the heralded recruit ever think he'd be dunking a basketball on the street? 

"I never thought about it," he said. "I thought it would be only in a gym, but just in this atmosphere, I never thought I'd be (dunking) here."

As impressive as the slam dunk contest, that wasn't Pearl's favorite part of the night. When asked, the sixth-year head coach said he enjoyed watching 6-foot-10 freshman Babatunde Akingbola knocking down 3s in the 3-point contest because "nobody thought he could do that." Both Akingbola and fellow big man Austin Wiley showed a smooth stroke from deep. 

For Pearl, though, the ultimate reward was seeing the turnout at Toomer's Corner and the fact that the event, which started out as just an idea, became a reality. 

"Just seeing all the faces," Pearl said. "I went up on the rooftop above the BBVA building just to get a look. It was incredible up there, and I hope that tonight maybe on Sportscenter they show this because we're getting close to college basketball. All eyes in the country should've been on Auburn right here tonight because of this incredible celebration."

On Friday, it's back to work for the men's team as they prepare to tip off the 2019-20 season in less than three weeks. The first game, a home game against Georgia Southern, is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. CT. 

Come March, the hope is for the fans to be back at Toomer's Corner celebrating again.