BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In the third annually Ballin’ in Boutwell, the Auburn University men’s basketball team unofficially opens its 2026-27 season on Wednesday with an exhibition contest against Florida State at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. Tip is set for 7 p.m.
The game will be streamed on the Hibbet YouTube page which can be found by clicking here. Live stats are available here, and the game will air on the Auburn Sports Network with Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey on the call. Fans can listen locally on 94.3 FM and through the Auburn Tigers app, while also watching Burcham and Dickey’s courtside cam on YouTube.
Led by Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton, the Tigers look to get off to a strong start in 2026-27 in their first of three exhibition games, which also includes facing Alabama next Thursday in Birmingham and closing out preseason action with Samford on Oct. 29 at home.
Auburn returns eight players from last year’s team that captured the NIT Championship and won 22 games. Dating back to the start of the 2017-18 season, the Tigers have won 20+ games every year (excluding the 2020 COVID season) and have averaged 24.9 wins/season during that stretch.
Second year head coach Steven Pearl has added nine new Tigers to this year’s roster, including big men Narcisse Ngoy, Bukky Oboye and Owen Freeman, forwards Thomas Dowd and Adam Olsen, and guards George Kimble III, Mantas Rubstavicius, Kolby King and Caleb Williams.
For more information on the Auburn men’s basketball team, be sure to follow @Auburnmbb on X, Instagram and Facebook.