AUBURN, Ala. – No. 22 Auburn’s strength of schedule gets a massive boost Sunday when the Tigers take on No. 1 Houston in Birmingham in The Battleground 2K25.
“An incredible opportunity playing the No. 1 team in the country,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “They’re the standard in college basketball.”
The Tigers take a 3-0 record to Legacy Arena, but Auburn’s degree of difficulty takes a steep climb against the Cougars.
“It’s about six or seven steps up when you play a program like Houston,” Pearl said. “To play them early in the year is going to be really good for us to see where we are.”
In victories over Bethune-Cookman, Merrimack and Wofford, Auburn averaged 94.3 points per game. Points, says Pearl, will be harder to come by against Houston.
“Over the last 10 years, they’ve been the best defensive team in college basketball,” Pearl said. “They disrupt everything you do offensively. They disrupt you timing. They continuously have guards that are such great on-ball defenders. They make your life really difficult.”
Pearl put into perspective how successful Houston has been under coach Kelvin Sampson, comparing the Cougars to Auburn’s 2018-25 golden age that features five SEC championships and two Final Fours.
“They have 41 more wins than us in that time,” he said. “They play with a different level of fire and a different level of energy and passion.”
In Auburn’s favor are three players who have faced Houston before: Tahaad Pettiford, who scored 21 points in the Tigers’ 74-69 win last year in Houston, Kevin Overton and Keyshawn Hall.
“You live for these big matchups,” said Hall, Auburn’s leading scorer (24.3) and rebounder (11.0). “I appreciate everyone who’s going to come out and support us. That’s a great team over there and they’re the No. 1 team in the country but I feel like we can compete with anybody.”
The Tigers have outrebounded their first three opponents by an average of 20.3 boards per game, a trend that if continued would greatly increase Auburn’s chances of earning Pearl’s first signature head coaching win.
“The teams that win the rebounding battle are going to win games,” Pearl said. “It’s much easier said than done because they fly at that thing with reckless abandon. Our guys are going to have to play with a different level of intensity, energy and physicality.”
No. 22 Auburn (3-0) tips off against top-ranked Houston (3-0) in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena Sunday at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network, where Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey will bring the action to listeners.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer