When Auburn travels to Coleman Coliseum to face the University of Alabama on Saturday, the game will be about more than the usual bragging rights.
The Tigers will have an opportunity to dash their rivals’ NCAA Tournament hopes while building momentum for the upcoming SEC Tournament.
“Last year when we beat [Texas] A&M in the SEC Tournament, they said that game knocked A&M out of the [NCAA] Tournament,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “I’m glad we won, but I would’ve liked to have seen A&M get in the tournament. I want more teams from the league in the tournament. But it’s Alabama. It’s different. It’s a rival.”
Auburn is coming off a win over another rival, as the Tigers defeated Georgia, 84-81, at home on Wednesday night without their best interior player.
Tyler Harris missed the game with a concussion suffered against Ole Miss last Saturday, forcing Jordon Granger to play the four instead of the three, where he has played most of the season. Granger responded with career highs in points and rebounds on the way to his first collegiate double-double.
Pearl said Harris is planning to practice Friday and, barring a major setback, is “likely” to play against the Tide on Saturday.
“I'm really glad that Tyler is getting closer to being able to play, because that was a pretty substantial hit, and it wouldn't have surprised me if he was out longer than this,” Pearl said. “If we get him back Saturday, it's probably sooner than I thought he would be able to get back.”
Given Granger’s effectiveness at the four against the Bulldogs, Pearl said the senior will play there and at small forward against Alabama. The return of Harris along with T.J. Dunans, who returned from a knee injury against Ole Miss and is currently playing point guard, gives Auburn depth it has not had for most of the year.
With injuries to Dunans, Harris and point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen and the departure of Kareem Canty, Auburn has been shorthanded for large chunks of the season, something guard TJ Lang said he thinks the team has turned into a positive.
“It’s actually helped us kind of come together as a team,” Lang said. “We’ve become a whole lot closer after all this stuff has happened. It was tough in the beginning, but as it kind of kept going on we just weathered the storm, and we’re starting to play pretty good basketball right now.”
With the return of two key players to go along with emergence of freshmen Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer, Pearl believes the pieces are finally coming together for his team as they wrap up a season that fell short of his expectations.
“We’ve got eight guys now that can play,” Pearl said. “That gives us a fighting chance … Now we have enough pieces to be competitive.”
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