AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women’s basketball team continues its stretch of four road games out of five Thursday night when the Tigers travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, to take on the 15th-ranked Lady Vols. Game time is 5:30 p.m. CT at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Tigers (12-12, 3-8 SEC) came so close to picking up that elusive SEC road win Monday night, fighting back from a double-digit deficit to take a late lead before eventually falling at No. 16 Oklahoma, 73-71. Tennessee (17-6, 4-6 SEC) earned a signature win at home last Thursday, defeating No. 5 UConn 80-76, before coming up short on the road at No. 6 LSU on Sunday, 82-77.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 5:15 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network + with Roger Hoover and Kamera Harris calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn fought back from a double-digit deficit to take a lead in the final two minutes, but late free throws proved to be the difference as No. 16 Oklahoma escaped with a 73-71 win Monday night.
›› DeYona Gaston scored 24 points – 14 of them in the fourth quarter – to lead the Auburn effort. She went on a personal 9-0 run to open the fourth quarter, cutting a 10-point Oklahoma lead down to one in a span of 92 seconds. With the score tied 71-71 and Oklahoma holding for a final shot, Auburn was called for a foul under the basket, and the Sooners’ Payton Verhulst made both free throws to move ahead by two. Auburn got the ball under the basket and got a look from Gaston, but it would be one of the few shots she missed on the night, and Oklahoma held on.
›› Gaston’s 24 points led all scorers, and Bostic added 16 along with six rebounds and five assists. Yakiya Milton had a career-high seven rebounds, and Syriah Daniels and Yuting Deng scored nine points each. Taylen Collins had eight points and six rebounds in the return to her home state.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn’s first SEC road win of the year.
›› Give Auburn its first top-25 win of the season and fifth under Johnnie Harris.
›› Be Auburn’s first top-25 road win since 2021 at #19 Georgia Tech and first in SEC play since 2014 at #16 Vanderbilt.
›› Be the Tigers’ first over Tennessee in Knoxville since 1988.
SERIES HISTORY VS. TENNESSEE
›› This is the 62nd meeting between Auburn and Tennessee, dating back to 1980. The Lady Vols lead 49-12, including a 24-2 advantage in Knoxville.
›› Auburn won the first meeting between the teams at Thompson-Boling Arena in 1988, but Tennesse has won the last 21 straight. The Tigers’ other road win in the series came at Stokely Athletics Center in 1986.
›› Auburn has one other win at Thompson-Boling Arena, an 81-69 victory over No. 1 Louisiana Tech in the 1990 Final Four.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 4, 2024, in Auburn
Tennessee 75, Auburn 67
›› Auburn led by double digits early in the second half, but Tennessee took control the rest of the way to win the SEC opener 75-67 at Neville Arena, ending the Tigers’ eight-game winning streak.
›› Mar’shaun Bostic scored a season-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead Auburn. Honesty Scott-Grayson added 16 and JaMya Mingo-Young scored 11. Rickea Jackson scored 24 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to lead Tennessee.
›› Leading 40-32 at the half, Scott-Grayson’s jumper put Auburn ahead by 10 before the Tigers missed 10 straight shots and the Lady Vols used a 13-0 run to take a three-point lead it would never relinquish.
›› The Lady Vols maximized their size advantage by outrebounding Auburn 47-34. Auburn made 11 steals and forced 23 turnovers while committing only six and outscoring Tennessee 18-9 in points off turnovers but the difference in shooting percentages proved too much to overcome, along with the Lady Vols’ 25-12 lead in fast-break points.
SCOUTING THE LADY VOLS
›› Tennessee is 17-6 overall, 4-6 in SEC play. All six of the Lady Vols’ losses have come by seven points or less.
›› Tennessee has the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense, averaging 90.0 points per game (80.5 ppg in SEC play). They lead the nation in 3-pointers made (10.7/game) and have already made a school-record 245 treys. The Lady Vols are second nationally in offensive rebounds (18.6/game) and 11th in turnovers forced per game (23.2).
›› Five players average double-figures for UT, led by Talaysia Cooper with 17.5 points per game. Jewel Spear, Samara Spencer and Tess Darby have all made 40-plus 3-pointers on the year.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 12-12 overall, 3-8 in SEC play. The Tigers are in the midst of a stretch of four of five games on the road with three of those against top-25 foes.
›› Auburn has held 18 of 23 Division I opponents below their season scoring average. Twelve of those opponents have scored more than 10 points below their season average.
›› Graduate student DeYona Gaston is the nation’s eighth-leading scorer and third in the SEC. She leads the Tigers with 21.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. She has 12 games this season with 20 or more points and four with 30-plus. She set a Neville Arena record for an Auburn player with 36 points in the win over VUL, then nearly matched that with 35 points vs. Alabama State. She has five double-doubles so far this season, including a 29-point, 12-rebound performance vs. Norfolk State on Dec. 29. For her efforts against ULL (29 points)and Alabama State, she was named SEC Player of the Week. Gaston also hit a corner 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to beat Northern Iowa on Nov. 28; it was just the second 3-pointer of her five-year collegiate career. She added 30 points in the Jan. 2 game vs. Ole Miss, going 14-for-17 at the free throw line. Her 14 made free throws and 17 attempts both tied Auburn program records.
›› Senior Mar’Shaun Bostic is turning heads as the Tigers’ starting point guard recently, ranking third in the SEC and 17th nationally with 5.5 assists per game. She’s had five or more assists in 17 of 24 games, including three straight with nine or more. She scored 18 points in back-to-back games vs. Kentucky and Texas for season-highs. She then recorded a career-high 11 assists along with nine points in the win over Florida Jan. 26, then barely missed a double-double with 10 points and 9 assists at South Carolina. She finally picked up that elusive double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 7 assists in the win over Texas A&M Feb. 6. One of the fastest players and top defenders in the SEC, she leads the team with 2.2 steals per game this year (7th SEC).
›› Freshman Yuting Deng has made waves in her first five extended appearances, scoring 13 points in the win over Missouri Jan. 19, then knocking down four 3-pointers en route to a 16-point night against Florida Jan. 26. Deng entered the starting lineup Feb. 2 at South Carolina, scoring 10 points while hitting a pair of 3s. She arrived from China Jan. 11, made her debut vs. Texas five days later, then missed the game at Mississippi State with an injury suffered in practice the day before.
›› Graduate student Taylen Collins averages 8.2 points and 5.5 rebounds. She recorded her first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win over UAB Dec. 8. Collins hit double-digit scoring twice at the Paradise Jam and had 10 rebounds in the win over Pitt, then scored a then-season high 14 in the win at Virginia. She missed two recent games (Alabama State-illness, Norfolk State-injury) but returned to the lineup vs. Ole Miss. Collins pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in the win over Florida Jan. 26.
›› Senior Celia Sumbane scored a career-high 19 points with 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals vs. VUL. She was then named to the Paradise Jam all-tournament team after averaging 10.2 points in the tournament, including 16 in the final game vs. Kansas. She started the first 18 games, then recorded her first career double-double off the bench with 13 points and 11 rebounds vs. Missouri on Jan. 19.
›› Sophomore Taliah Scott, a transfer from Arkansas, made a splash in her Auburn debut, tying the program record for single-game 3-pointers with eight in the Tigers’ win over Little Rock Nov. 14. She scored 26 points in the game along with a career-high 9 rebounds. She followed that up with a 28-point night at Oregon where she knocked down seven 3-pointers. She has missed the last 19 games with an injury suffered at Cal on Nov. 22.
›› Sophomore Audia Young opened the season with a bang, scoring a career-high 11 points on 3-4 3FG along with four steals vs. SIU. She then set another career high vs. VUL with 18 points, 4 assists and 5 steals. She hit double-digits a third time with 11 points in the win over Pitt, which included three 3-pointers. Young set a new career high at LSU with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
›› True freshmen Jordan Hunter and Syriah Daniels - two of the top high school players in Alabama a year ago - saw their first collegiate action vs. SIU. Hunter had 6 assists and 4 rebounds off the bench in the opener, then went 7-for-7 from the field for 15 points along with 6 assists vs. VUL. Daniels had 12 points and 4 steals in the VUL win, then scored a career-high 14 points in her first career start to help the Tigers come from behind to beat UAB Dec. 8.
›› Oyindamola Akinbolawa and Yakiya Milton have spent time in the post with Akinbolawa starting 13 games and Milton one. Akinbolawa’s best game came vs. UNI at the Paradise Jam, where she finished with 7 points and 10 rebounds. She then scored a career-high 10 points at ULL, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. Milton had her best outing of the year at Oklahoma with a career-high 7 rebounds.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn plays one of its two remaining home games Sunday, Feb. 16, as the Vanderbilt Commodores visit Neville Arena. Game time is 3 p.m. CT.