The Auburn men's basketball program tipped off the season with their "Tiger Hoops Madness" Friday.
The night included a three-point shootout, a slam-dunk contest and an abbreviated scrimmage.
Second-year coach Tony Barbee leads a Tiger team who is looking to build on their 11 victories from last season.
"It's a great way for the season to kick off," Barbee said. "This event is huge every year for the program and our fans."
Senior forward Kenny Gabriel defeated sophomore guard T.J. Rice in the three-point contest. Gabriel comes off a junior season where he averaged 10.3 points and 5 rebounds per game.
"It was a good atmosphere out there tonight," Gabriel said. "Last year it was a learning process, and this year we have people like Noel Johnson, Frankie Sullivan and Varez Ward. As soon as practice gets going, we just need to keep working with the new guys, and we should be OK."
The slam-dunk contest was a crowd favorite with celebrity judges like former Auburn basketball standout Marquis Daniels, former Auburn basketball coach Sonny Smith, former Auburn football great Kendall Simmons, former Auburn golfer Jason Dufner and former Auburn basketball star John Menglet.
Gabriel and sophomore guard Chris Denson took home the dunk contest honors. Denson looked to have locked up the victory with a reverse dunk assisted by teammate Varez Ward. Gabriel tied up the contest and the win with a skilled dunk from the free throw line.
"I wasn't going to jump from the free throw line originally," Gabriel said. "When I saw Chris got a 50, I had to go for it."
The scrimmage was a 10-minute practice session for the fans to see the Tigers in action for the first time this season. Barbee said he was pleased with a few newcomers who stood out.
"You look out there tonight, and I think one of them stood out like a sore thumb in Willy Kouassi," Barbee said. "That is why we recruited him, and that is what he does well.
"I think we counted in the first five trips up and down the floor, he had six rebounds. I don't know if any of our interior players averaged six rebounds for a game, and in our first five trips, he had six rebounds. That's what he does. He has a knack of rebounding the ball. He has a knack of getting his hands on the ball.
"I thought Cedric McAfee played well, too, of the newcomers. He scores and is electric, and he showed some of that tonight."
Auburn will compete in several tournaments to start the season taking on Seton Hall, South Florida and North Florida in the SEC Big East Challenge in December. Auburn will then fly to Hawaii to compete in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. Auburn will face the likes of Clemson and preseason ranked Xavier in this holiday tournament.
Barbee emphasized the team has worked extremely hard in the offseason. He said the only reason they ever lose is because they ran out of time, not because the team quit or gave up.
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