AUBURN, Ala. – Coming off their biggest win in more than a decade, the Auburn women's basketball team gets back to work on the road this weekend as the Tigers face Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. Game time is 2 p.m. CT Sunday at Memorial Gym.
The Tigers (9-10, 1-7 SEC) look to build off the momentum from one of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season as they defeated No. 4 Tennessee 71-61 Thursday night at Auburn Arena, snapping a 23-game SEC losing streak and giving Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris her first SEC win.
Auburn sophomore Aicha Coulibaly looks to continue her strong play in SEC games. She's led the Tigers in scoring the last six games and in rebounds for five of the last six. She led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting in the win over Tennessee.
Vanderbilt (11-10, 2-5) is coming off a win over Kentucky at home Thursday night. Auburn has won its last two contests with Vandy, the last being a 77-67 win in the 2020 SEC Tournament. The teams did not meet last season.
Fans planning to attend Sunday's game in Nashville should familiarize themselves with Vanderbilt's attendance policies, which include proof of either a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test within the last 72 hours. Full policies can be found here: https://vucommodores.com/basketball-attendance-protocol-updates/
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Reneisha Bolden will have the radio call from Memorial Gym beginning at 1:45 p.m. CT on WQSI 93.9 FM in Auburn. The game can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Sunday's game can be seen on SEC Network + with Andrew Allegretta and Samantha Kincaid on the call. SEC Network + is available via WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app for mobile devices and smart TVs.
LAST TIME OUT
›› The Auburn Tigers shocked the women's college basketball world Thursday night, pulling one of the season's biggest upsets with a 71-61 win over No. 4 Tennessee, earning their first league win of the season and knocking the Lady Vols from the ranks of the unbeaten in league play.
›› Auburn (9-10, 1-7 SEC) forced Tennessee into 22 turnovers, converting those into 25 points, and never faltered in the face of several Lady Vol runs in a game that featured nine lead changes, six of those in the second half.
›› Aicha Coulibaly led four Tigers in double-figures with 26 points, and she also pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Tigers. Sania Wells scored 13 points, Jala Jordan added 11 points and six rebounds in her second SEC start, and Annie Hughes scored 10.
›› Freshman Mar'Shaun Bostic was a beast on the defensive end, swiping four steals and finishing with nine points and three assists off the bench. In the 15 minutes she was on the court, the Tigers were plus-25.
›› Auburn shot 39 percent (25-64) from the field but matched a season-high with seven made 3-pointers, two apiece from Jordan, Hughes and Coulibaly. Tennessee, the nation's top rebounding team, out-rebounded Auburn 43-30, but points in the paint were even at 30-30 and Auburn had 11 second-chance points to Tennessee's nine.
HISTORIC VICTORY
›› Auburn's win over No. 4 Tennessee on Jan. 27 was one of the biggest stunners of the 2022 college basketball season. It snapped a 23-game losing streak in SEC play for Auburn that dated back to 2020, handed UT its first loss in league play, and was Auburn's first win over a top-5 opponent since 1997.
›› The Tigers' last win over a top-5 opponent came in the 1997 SEC Tournament, a 75-47 win over No. 4 Georgia in the quarterfinal. Auburn would go on to defeat No. 8 Tennessee and No. 6 Florida over the next two days to win the tournament and earn an NCAA Tournament berth.
›› Auburn had played 38 games against top-5 opponents since their win over Georgia; 16 of those games had been against Tennessee.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be the Tigers' third road win of the season.
›› Be Auburn's first SEC road win since Feb. 25, 2020, at Missouri.
›› Give Auburn a third straight victory over the Commodores.
›› Be Auburn's fifth win in its last six trips to Memorial Gym.
›› Give Auburn back-to-back SEC wins for the first time since the 2019 season when the Tigers defeated Alabama and Missouri on Feb. 17 and 24.
AUBURN-VANDERBILT SERIES
›› This is the 54th meeting between Auburn and Vanderbilt in women's basketball. Vandy owns a 29-24 lead in the series and a 14-9 advantage at Memorial Gym.
›› Much of Vandy's series lead comes from a 21-game Commodore win streak from 2001-14. But since Auburn snapped the skid in Nashville in 2014, the Tigers have won 8 of the last 9 meetings.
›› The teams did not meet in 2020-21 after Vanderbilt opted out of the remainder of their season in mid-January.
LAST MEETING: March 4, 2020, at Greenville, S.C.
Auburn 77, Vanderbilt 67
›› Unique Thompson scored 21 points, Daisa Alexander added 19, and the Auburn women's basketball team opened the 2020 SEC Tournament with a 77-67 win over Vanderbilt.
›› Auburn used a 17-2 run that spanned more than seven minutes in the fourth quarter to break open what had been a tightly-contested game through the first three periods.
›› Thompson finished with 21 points and nine rebounds with 14 of those points coming in the second half. Alexander had some early struggles at the field but began attacking the basket in the second half, getting to the free-throw line and hitting 5-of-6. She also had a game-high nine assists, one shy of a career-high, along with four steals.
›› Auburn's defense was a major factor for the second straight game, forcing 25 turnovers and converting those into a season-high 31 points. As a team, Auburn shot exactly 50 percent (28-of-56) from the field and hit 8-of-18 3-pointers (44.4%). Vandy was slightly better from the field at 52.8 percent but hit just two 3-pointers. Vandy out-rebounded Auburn 29-24.
SCOUTING VANDERBILT
›› Vanderbilt is 11-10 overall, 2-5 in SEC play. The Commodores have wins over Arkansas and Kentucky to their credit so far in league play.
›› Vandy averages 62.2 poins per game while giving up 60.0. The Commodores lead the SEC in steals with 10.7 per game.
›› Brinae Alexander leads Vandy with 15.1 points per game; she and Iyana Moore are two of the league's top 3-point shooters, averaging 2.2 and 1.8 treys per game, respectively.
›› Point guard Jordyn Cambridge is the sister of Auburn men's basketball player Devan Cambridge.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 9-10, 1-7 in SEC play. After falling in five SEC games where the Tigers either led in the fourth quarter or were within one possession in the final minute, the Tigers finally broke through with a stunning 71-61 win over No. 4 Tennessee on Jan. 27, snapping a 23-game SEC losing streak.
›› With wins at No. 18 Georgia Tech on Nov. 21 and at home over No. 4 Tennessee on Jan. 27, Auburn has two wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 2016.
›› Sophomore Aicha Coulibaly leads Auburn and is fourth in the SEC in scoring with 18.2 points/game. She is also the Tigers' top rebounder with 8.1 rebounds per game (7th SEC). She has topped the 20-point mark in seven contests, scoring a career-high 27 against Charleston Southern, 23 against North Florida, 25 vs. Oklahoma State, 24 at Belmont, 23 vs. Kennesaw State, 24 at Florida and 26 vs. Tennessee. She also has four double-doubles this season, including 14 points and 11 rebound vs. Kentucky. For her efforts against UNF and OSU, she was named SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 7.
›› Redshirt junior Honesty Scott-Grayson is averaging 11.9 points and 5.5 rebounds, and she has recorded two double-doubles. She was the Tigers' leading returner from 2020-21 in most statistical categories: scoring (14.5 ppg), rebounding (4.1 rpg), assists (1.7 apg), steals (2.1 APG) and shooting (.406 FG/.301 3FG/.761 FT).
›› Junior guard Sania Wells is the SEC's top free-throw shooter at .934 (57-61), which also ranks 5th nationally. She scored a career-high 20 points at Missouri on Jan. 6.
›› Junior Annie Hughes is the only Tiger to appear in every game since the start of the 2019-20 season. Hughes scored a career-high 21 points and hit 5 3-pointers against Charleston Southern on Nov. 26. She also hit a key 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter that was a dagger in the Tigers' upset of No. 4 Tennessee.
UP NEXT
›› The Tigers are back home on Thursday, Feb. 3, to host Mississippi State. Game time is 7 p.m. CT at Auburn Arena.
Auburn women back on the road at Vanderbilt
