AUBURN, Ala. \u2014In a rematch of 2025 Final Four teams, the Auburn men\u2019s basketball team will face Houston in the Battleground 2k25 at Legacy Arena at the BJCC on Sunday, Nov. 16 at Legacy Arena at the BJCC. The Tigers defeated the Cougars, 74-69, last season in Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to playing Houston again this season in our backyard in Birmingham,\u201d Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. \u201cLast year\u2019s matchup of two Final Four teams was one of the most exciting games of our season and we expect another great game in November. We want Legacy Arena to be filled with orange and blue by the Auburn Family to create an environment that feels like we are inside Neville Arena.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auburn finished the 2024-25 season with a 32-6 record and were the Southeastern Conference Champions, while Houston was 35-5 and Big 12 Conference Champions. The Tigers won the South Regional enroute to the Final Four in San Antonio while the Cougars won the Midwest Regional.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environment at Houston last year was like a Final Four. I\u2019m grateful to my friend Kelvin Sampson for respecting our Auburn program enough to be willing to start this series,\u201d Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. \u201cLast year\u2019s game was a launching pad for our historic season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the marquee matchup between the two elite programs, the weekend will feature a full slate of community-centered events, including\u00a0The Battleground 2k25\u00a0Press Conference and Fan Fest on Saturday, Nov. 15, in downtown Birmingham.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are incredibly proud to serve as the title sponsor for such a marquee matchup like The Battleground 2k25,\u201d said\u00a0Robert Gamble, CEO of RxBenefits. \u201cAs a growing company that calls Birmingham home, it is a pleasure to support a high-profile event like this, that will turn the nation’s attention to our community. It is an extension of all that we do to support great causes and organizations in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the heart of\u00a0The Battleground 2k\u00a0series is a powerful charitable mission\u2014one that challenges the student-athletes to leverage their talent, visibility, and platforms to uplift and inspire local youth. This premier basketball experience, along with its associated events, will leave a lasting imprint on the Birmingham community while offering a meaningful and memorable opportunity for the participating universities and their student-athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very excited about\u00a0The Battleground 2k25\u00a0and the opportunity that this premier sports platform presents to combine great competition with community in Birmingham,\u201d USE President\u00a0Rhossi Carron\u00a0says. \u201cThis event will focus on empowering and improving the lives of kids in the community and help the participating student-athletes develop their passion for giving back in a genuine way. We look forward to utilizing\u00a0The Battleground 2k25\u00a0basketball platform to impact the lives of children in the Birmingham community.”<\/p>\n
More From Auburn Tigers on SI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUBURN, Ala. \u2014In a rematch of 2025 Final Four teams, the Auburn men\u2019s basketball team will face Houston…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-77450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}