Auburn basketball is a top-10 team, according to the newest poll from the Associated Press.
AP's second Top 25 poll of the season, announced Monday morning, ranks the Tigers at No. 9 — the second-highest SEC team behind Tennessee (No. 6) and ahead of Kentucky (No. 10).
Monday marked the 12th straight poll Bruce Pearl's Tigers have been ranked in after going unranked since 2003 until last season.
Auburn is 2-0 after a 101-58 season-opening win over South Alabama and an 88-66 victory over then-No. 25 Washington. The win over the Huskies last Friday was the first ranked-versus-ranked matchup between nonconference teams in the history of Auburn Arena. It was also Auburn's first win over a ranked nonconference opponent in 48 years (North Carolina State, 1970).
The ranking is Auburn's highest since being No. 8 last season in the poll released Feb. 5, 2018.
After leading the conference in points per game last season — which came as a surprise when the year began without Austin Wiley or Danjel Purifoy — Auburn and its key movers and shakers haven't missed a beat.
Through two games, Auburn ranked first in the SEC in made 3-pointers with 30, which also ranks 11th in the nation. Junior point guard Jared Harper's 18 assists in two wins is first in the conference; that 9.0 assists per game clip is also fifth among Division I college basketball players.
In a surprising 2017-18 that saw the Tigers claim their first conference crown since 1999, they were one of the youngest teams in the nation with just one senior in the rotation. Now, Auburn has 13 upperclassmen and totals 4,182 career points on the roster. That ranks eighth in the nation, according to Auburn Athletics' game notes for Auburn vs. Mississippi College.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
