Tough non-conference slate to test Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn men's basketball will play one of its toughest non-conference slates to date under head coach Bruce Pearl.
 
The Tigers will potentially play two preseason Top 10-ranked teams and six Power 5 opponents from the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences during the 2023-24 season. Auburn previously faced five P5 non-conference opponents (Texas Tech, Purdue, Boston College, Oklahoma and TCU) in 2016-17 – the most in program history.
 
"When you set up your non-conference schedule, you send a message to your players and to your fanbase how good you think you will be," Pearl said. "I don't try to do it that way. We try to compete for championships and we've won three in the last six years. This non-conference schedule will get us ready for what's going to be the most competitive SEC since I've been at Auburn."
 
Neville Arena home games include an exhibition tilt versus Auburn University at Montgomery (Nov. 1) along with non-conference matchups with Southeastern Louisiana (Nov. 10), Alabama A&M (Nov. 21), Virginia Tech (Nov. 29), USC (Dec. 17), Alabama State (Dec. 22), Chattanooga (Dec. 30) and Penn (Jan. 2).
 
"USC is a preseason Top 10 team that will come into Neville Arena with a very talented roster," Pearl said. "To have a program like USC travel to Auburn for basketball is comparable to USC coming into Jordan-Hare Stadium and how good its program has been historically in football. USC has one of those kind of basketball programs now."
 
The Tigers will officially open the season versus Baylor, 2021 national champions, on Nov. 7 in a neutral-site game to be played at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Bears are one of four teams on the schedule that reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
 
Other neutral-site contests include a second all-time meeting with Indiana as part of Holiday Hoopsgiving on Dec. 9 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta and fifth all-time meeting with defending Big South Conference champion UNC Asheville as part of the Rocket City Classic on Dec. 13 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala.
 
"Last year, our non-conference schedule definitely helped us get into the NCAA Tournament and the 8-9 (seed) game," Pearl said. "Over the last six years, we have had the best non-conference record over any team in the SEC (75-17 overall, .815). I hope that after seven years, I can say the same thing."
 
Auburn will travel to the 2023 Legends Classic on Nov. 16-17 and take on Notre Dame in the opening game of the tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Tigers will later face either Oklahoma State or St. Bonaventure in the championship or third-place game.
 
"There's no chance we are dumbing it down, especially with the teams that we are playing on neutral courts," Pearl said. "We will take our team back to Brooklyn where we won the tournament in 2019. Having previously coached at Southern Indiana, I understand what basketball means in the state of Indiana. IU is a Top 10 team and will be a tough test in Atlanta."
 
The lone true road game on the Tigers' schedule is a trip to Appalachian State on Dec. 3 in Boone, N.C., as part of a 2-for-1 series with the Mountaineers that started with the first game in December of 2020.
 
"We have some other really tough, competitive non-conference games that are going to prepare us for league play," Pearl said. "I want to give my assistant coach, Mike Burgomaster, a lot of credit for doing the work and research to be able to find and attract these kind of teams to play us. It is an analytics game and you have to have enough math to get you into the tournament."
 
The Tigers' SEC schedule, game times and TV games will be released at a later date.