AUBURN, Ala. – Three weeks ago, Auburn went to Georgia and picked up a 95-77 win. It was Sharife Cooper's second game, his first win as an Auburn Tiger. It was the team's first SEC victory. And it was maybe the best they have played all season.
On Tuesday night, the Tigers will welcome that same Georgia team to Auburn Arena. But beating a good team twice in the same season is never easy, and the Bulldogs aren't the same team either. They have won three of their last five games since playing Auburn.
"This is an improved Georgia team," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "It's hard to beat a good team twice. It is. They're probably just excited about the fact that the score is 0-0 because we got away from them a little bit there. (I'll) remind my guys it was a three-point game with about three minutes left to go into first half. And when they started off on a 7-0 run to begin the second half, we only had a four-point lead at that point."
Historically, a season sweep in the Auburn-Georgia series has been rare for both sides. The Tigers did it in 2018 and 2019 under Pearl, but in the 30 seasons prior to Pearl's arrival in 2014, Auburn had swept Georgia just once in 1986.
The rivalry itself has been about as competitive as you can get on the hardwood. The two sides have met 192 times, and Auburn holds a slight 97-95 edge all-time.
It's an important series for Auburn, too. The Peach State has become a pivotal recruiting battleground for Pearl and his staff with nearly half of Auburn's scholarship players this season having played high school basketball in Georgia, including three of the team's five starters with Cooper, JT Thor and Jaylin Williams.
Recent Auburn alums from the state of Georgia include Isaac Okoro, Chuma Okeke, Bryce Brown and Jared Harper – all of whom are on NBA or G-League rosters.
"Our Georgia kids have come here, they've had success, they've won championships, they've graduated, they've gone on to the pros," Pearl said. "Georgia has been good to us, and I think in many ways we've been good to Georgia."
The latest installment in the series, Tuesday night, is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. CT from Auburn Arena. Andy Burcham 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 SEC Network with Tom Hart and Jon Sundvold on the call.
Player to Watch: Babatunde Akingbola
"Stretch" has been a menace on defense and on the glass while featuring in a more prominent role for the Tigers. Akingbola ranks 10th in the SEC with 1.3 blocks per game and has blocked multiple shots five times this season. The Ogun, Nigeria native has also grabbed multiple rebounds in seven straight games, averaging 3.1 boards per contest in that span.
Inside the Series: Georgia
This will be the 193rd all-time meeting between Auburn and Georgia. The Bulldogs are the most common opponent in the 114-year history of Auburn basketball. The Tigers hold a slight edge in the series at 97-95.
When the two sides met on Jan. 13, Auburn led from start to finish en route to a 95-77 victory. The Tigers' 95 points were the most in an SEC road game since they beat LSU, 98-75, in Baton Rouge in 2017. It was the most points Auburn has scored against Georgia since a 95-91 victory (4OT) in 1979 at the SEC tournament.
The Tigers also blocked 14 shots in the first matchup with Georgia, setting a program record for most blocks in an SEC road game. The 14 blocks are the most by any team in the country this season, a mark that was later tied by Auburn last week against Missouri.
Auburn has a 62-24 lead in games played on The Plains. The Tigers have seven of the last nine duels inside Auburn Arena, including three straight.
Gaining Experience
In terms of experience, the 2020-21 Auburn Tigers are the youngest team in head coach Bruce Pearl's career. The team averages 0.75 years of experience, which ranks as the youngest team in the country to play a game this season.
Auburn has 32 starts combined by freshmen this season, which is fifth in the country behind only Kentucky (45), Kansas State (39), North Carolina (35) and Washington State (34), and ahead of Duke (31). Three of the team's top-five leading scorers are freshmen with Sharife Cooper (21.3), Justin Powell (11.7) and JT Thor (9.3), though Powell remains out day to day due to injury.
Making the Assist
When Auburn and Georgia played earlier this season, Sharife Cooper finished with 28 points and 12 assists – becoming the first Auburn players with a points-assists double-double since Jared Harper did it on Dec. 22, 2018. His 12 assists were second most in a game by a freshman this season and tied for the most by and player in an SEC game.
Cooper, who leads the SEC with 8.1 assists per game, recorded another points-assists double-double with 16 points and 12 assists at South Carolina. He's the only player in the country this season with multiple games of 15 points, 12 assists and five rebounds.
Tigers welcome in Georgia, take aim at season sweep
