AUBURN, Ala. – Adam Olsen knows what it’s like to be on the other side of an SEC vs. Sun Belt matchup.
The Auburn senior forward played at South Alabama last season.
“Your mentality is to come in and beat one of the top dogs in the country,” said Olsen, who sat out South Alabama’s NIT visit to Neville Arena in March with an injury. “You have nothing to lose as a mid-major team coming in and playing a high-major, and as a high-major, you have everything to lose and not much to gain.
“For us, it’s being more excited to play than any other team. When we played Southeastern Louisiana, we were excited to play. Getting that energy pregame will carry us through the game.”
After defeating Southeastern Louisiana 92-59 Wednesday in Tipoff on The Plains, Auburn remains at Neville Arena Monday, hosting Appalachian State, which defeated the Tigers in their most recent meeting three seasons ago in Boone, North Carolina.
“It’s a team that defensively has always done a lot of really good things and that’s no different this year,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “They’ve held their first two opponents to 49 and 43 points. They have good depth, they have good shooters this year. They’ll present some real challenges for us.”
The Mountaineers return eight players from a team that ranked No. 16 nationally last season in scoring defense, allowing 66.1 points per game.
“A good team that is going to compete at the top of their league,” Pearl said. “A team that we have to really get ready for and play good basketball to beat.”
Auburn (1-0) and Appalachian State (2-0) tip off at 8 p.m. CT Monday at sold-out Neville Arena on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network, where Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey will team up for the broadcast. The first 300 Auburn University students will receive free camo t-shirts.
“It’s not going to look like a mid-major team out there,” Pearl said. “They have real size, they have real athletes, they have real personnel.”
Olsen, now on the other side of the mid-major vs. high-major equation, is one of 10 Tigers who played 10 or more minutes and scored in Auburn’s season opener.
“I told the guys we’re not going to be the most talented team every single night,” Pearl said, “but our depth and our pieces, I think, give us a chance to have a pretty good team this year.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer