Auburn Basketball Schedules Matchup With Ohio State In Atlanta

Bruce Pearl has gone on the record in 2022 saying he values getting tough out of conference opponents early on in the season for his team, saying "Scheduling is an integral part of what we do. I want to give Mike Burgomaster, one of my assistants, credit for being very involved and doing a great job with the schedule. It is really, really important.”

Getting these opponents on the schedule is a double edged sword in terms of tournament seeding, but the ability to instill discipline and set expectations early in a season is invaluable, and to that end Auburn has made it a habit to find a substantial challenge in each of it's last 6 seasons. This season they'll be adding Ohio State to that mix, a talented team that has made the postseason in 4 of the last 6 years and posted a 22-14 record in the 2023-2024 season.

Additionally, Auburn will play Duke and Purdue in December, and will take part in the Maui invitational. The season-opening mini-tournament will include North Carolina, UConn, Memphis, and Dayton, among others. All in all it sets up an extremely tough opening for the Tigers, but one Pearl believes the team is ready to tackle.

Auburn turned in a 27-8 record last season with a SEC tournament win, being 4th in the league in points per game and leading the conference in assists. Unfortunately that success was followed by a disappointing loss to Yale in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but with some key additions to the roster in the offseason, Auburn basketball looks to improve further on an already impressive previous year.