Auburn basketball will return to Neville Arena for the first time in 26 days on Monday night against Queens for its final non-conference matchup of the regular season.
“Good to be back in Auburn. This is our first home game in 26 days and our second home game since November 19, believe it or not,” said Auburn head coach Steven Pearl.
The Tigers are looking to cap off a gauntlet of a nonconference schedule with their ninth win of the season against the Royals. They have lost matchups to current ranked No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Michigan, No. 5 Purdue and No. 8 Houston. Three of the four losses have come by a combined 87 points.
The most recent loss came against the Boilermakers, in which Auburn fell by 28 points, missing 12 3-pointers and nine layups, according to Pearl.
“You just shoot your season average, we’re still in that game, based on the looks that we got… We competed defensively. They hit the shots they wanted them to take,” Pearl said.
Queens will mark Auburn’s sixth opponent of the season that was picked to win its respective conference (ASUN) in the preseason.
Sitting at 5-7 on the season, the Royals are led in scoring by guard Nasir Mann with 15.3 points per game, along with three others averaging double figures.
“They’re definitely capable of putting up a lot of points,” Pearl said. “They’re connected. They have guys who have returned so they understand each other, and they make shots at a high level. They’re a very dangerous team on the offensive end.”
The Tigers enter this one with a relatively clean bill of health after a week-long rest period.
Point guard Tahaad Pettiford is “fine” after leaving early in the matchup against Purdue last week with an apparent ankle injury.
“Ankle is fine,” Pearl said of his point guard. “He’s tweaked his ankle multiple times in his career, even in high school. It’s just something he has to continue to monitor and continue to get treatment on. But right now he’s good.”
Shorthanded in the frontcourt after the program announced Emeka Opurum would miss the remainder of the season due to a medical condition, big man KeShawn Murphy got some much-needed rest and “looked like the Murph against Houston” per Pearl.
“He was bouncing around the gym yesterday and dunking all over the place,” Pearl said. “That’s the guy that we need.”
The Tigers will look to extend the nation’s longest active home non-conference winning streak to 64 games with a win, with tipoff set for 9 p.m. on SECN.
“It’s been a group that’s shown some resilience,” Pearl said of his squad. “We’ve responded pretty well after adverse situations. We’ve got to stop having so many adverse situations.
“It’s a team that has pieces to win games. Good teams win, great teams get better. For us to be a great team, we’ve got to continue to get better,” he added.
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