Auburn is full of surprises
AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn has gone from looking like one of the biggest messes in men’s college basketball to one of the season’s biggest surprises.
The 22nd-ranked Tigers (15-1, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) are ranked for the first time in nearly 15 years and riding a 13-game winning streak that includes backto-back wins over Top 25 teams. Only No. 2 West Virginia has a longer active winning streak, with 15 straight victories.
It’s a remarkable surge for a program that a few months ago was refunding dozens of season tickets, rocked by a scandal that cost coach Bruce Pearl his top assistant and, to this point, two of his best players. The buzz has changed from Pearl’s job security to a potential NCAA tournament run.
“You notice it coming in and out of church or walking in and out of a store,” Pearl said. “People are excited and they’re taking definitely taking notice. You do notice it on campus, too, walking around campus. Winning does that. I don’t notice a lot of difference in my team and in my locker room, interestingly. They’re pretty much the same. But, yeah, the community, it has a different feel to it. There’s joy.”
There was little cause for joy entering the season. Associate head coach Chuck Person was fired while facing fraud, conspiracy and bribery charges in a wide-ranging FBI investigation for allegedly trying to steer Auburn players toward a financial advisor once they turn pro.
Forward Danjel Purifoy and center Austin Wiley, two of the team’s top three players, have been held out all season amid an internal review into the program. On Thursday, the NCAA said Wiley won’t be eligible again until next season for violations self-reported by Auburn. Two staffers have also been placed on indefinite leave.
The remaining Tigers have done quite well. Bryce Brown, Jared Harper and Mustapha Heron have led a surge into the best record in the SEC going into today’s game at Mississippi State (13-3, 1-2).
Auburn started league play with back-to-back double-digit wins over both No. 24 Tennessee and Arkansas, which was also ranked at the time. The Tigers overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Ole Miss on Tuesday night in front of the season’s first sellout crowd at Auburn Arena as the program continued its best start since opening the 1999-2000 season 16-1.
Even at full strength, this start would have exceeded most expectations for a team that was picked to finish ninth in the SEC and — before this week — hadn’t cracked the Top 25 since Jan. 20, 2003. Now the Tigers are hoping for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003.
They have only one senior, and the team’s 12 underclassmen matches Kentucky for most in the nation. But even without Wiley and Purifoy, Pearl has more depth than he has ever enjoyed since taking over prior to the 2014-15 season.
But he noted his team’s lack of size and said it has little margin for error.
“To go down to Mississippi State, we’re going to have to have to play great to have a chance to win,” Pearl said. “We’ve played a lot of great basketball. We’re capable of it. I don’t mind putting that pressure on. I want to put that pressure on them, because that’s the reality of it.”