AUBURN, Alabama — Auburn’s basketball team will take to the court Friday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and a favorite to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. . If coach Bruce Pearl is correct, his Tigers are tested and prepared for the competition they will face in their NCAA Tournament bracket that begins with a game Friday against Jacksonville State.
Tipoff is scheduled for 11:40 a.m. CDT with coverage on Tru TV. Auburn will bring a 27-5 record to the contest while Jacksonville State is 21-10 and seeded No. 15 after winning the Atlantic Sun regular season championships.
“Auburn was 7-3 against the (NCAA Tournament) field,” Pearl said. “One of the things that I think isn’t talked about a lot is the fact that we played against UConn and the fact that we played in the Bahamas. It’s interesting the best teams we’ve played in the Bahamas were Loyola of Chicago and UConn. These are two teams that are on the ground.
“Generally, you’d have an even bigger name,” he said of Auburn’s trip to the eight-team Battle 4 Atlantis. “When we played Syracuse, they just haven’t had a good year this year.”
In addition to losing in overtime to UConn, Auburn lost at Arkansas and Tennessee to teams that made the NCAA Tournament. Tennessee is a three seed, Arkansas is a four seed, and UConn is a five seed.
In addition to defeating 10-seeded NCAA Tournament seed Loyola, Auburn has victories over Murray State, Yale, Alabama (twice), LSU and Kentucky. Kentucky is a two-seeded, LSU and Alabama are six-seeded, Murray State is a seven-seeded, and Yale is a 14-seeded.
“It takes the confidence that a coaching staff has in their team with a lot of new players and a lot of new faces to put our guys in really tough situations playing such a good schedule and going on the road,” said said Pearl, who has gone with four new starters for most of the season.
The Tigers finished 8-3 in road games, including non-conference games against South Florida and St. Louis early in the season. Pearl said these were good for his team’s development and power ratings.
“If you look at the teams that made (the NCAA tournament field), and some that didn’t, the decisions that were made in the non-conference to schedule those teams (offers impacted)”? Coach pointed out. “Nobody wanted to play at Yale. We knew they were going to be a really good team, an NCAA tournament team. They usually are.
“Our decision to go play Murray State on the road first and then bring them here for two games, there’s no SEC team that does that,” Pearl said. “Planning is an integral part of what we do. I want to thank Mike Burgomaster, one of my assistants, for being very involved and for doing a great job with the calendar. It’s really, really important. »
The Auburn coach added that the Tigers played another field-making team, UAB, in a preseason scrimmage.
News and Notes from Auburn: Friday’s Auburn game against Jacksonville State will be the opener at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, followed by the No. 7 seed Southern California against the No. 10 seed Miami half an hour after the Tigers conclude. against Gamecocks. Both are set to be televised on TruTV. The winners of those games will play Sunday to earn a spot in the Sweet 16 at the United Center in Chicago… In the evening, Cal-State Fullerton will face Duke at 6:10 p.m. CDT with television coverage on CBS. Davidson will face Michigan State 30 minutes after the Titans wrap up against the Blue Devils. Playing times for the Sunday contests have not yet been set.
Junior Guard/Striker Allen Flanigan has the most Auburn experience of any player on the roster. He has struggled this season since returning from surgery to repair a partially torn Achilles. When asked how it was going, Flanigan replied, “I’m not 100 percent. I’m probably around 80, 85. But I work consistently every day to do what I can to be what the team needs me to be. Asked what the team needs from the 6-6 Flanigan, who was a preseason first-team All-SEC pick by league coaches, he said, “Just to be someone on whom we can count every game defensively just being the leader knowing i’ve played more college games than those guys being an older guy just being here so just making my presence felt being aggressive trying to get down and then land my punches. Flanigan is averaging 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds while making 40.7% of his field goals, 21.1% of his threes, and 63.6% of his foul shots. As a sophomore, he averaged 14.3 points and 5.5 rebounds while making 45.5% of his field goals, 33.8% of his threes, and 77.6% of his free throws.
Auburn’s most experienced player is a graduate transfer Zep Jasper. He played three seasons at the College of Charleston, but none of those games were in the NCAA Tournament. “It feels good,” he said of the opportunity to participate in the big dance. “I’m super grateful. I’ve never had that day in my life. I’ve always watched it on TV. I’ve always wanted to be here. We achieved that by having a good season this year. I’m just blessed. My life is blessed. The whole coaching staff, the players here, we’ve worked so hard from July this summer. My first March Madness, I couldn’t be thankful for that anymore. Jasper collected in averaged 15.6 points last season at the College of Charleston and averaged 5.1 points per game for the Tigers with 64 assists and just 23 turnovers in 695 minutes (23.2 per game).
Women’s Tournament Supporter Contest, CBS
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