With a primetime matchup set against House of ‘Paign on ESPN at 7 p.m. CST on July 4, the War Tampa team is ready to put on a show.
War Tampa is an Auburn-themed basketball team for The Basketball Tournament with Auburn alumni Bryce Brown, Horace Spencer, Desean Murray and Laron Smith, all making up a part of the roster.
Following their time at Auburn, all four have gone on to either play in the G-League or professionally overseas.
But with major professional or collegiate sports yet to resume, TBT and War Tampa take center stage, allowing the players to showcase their talents to the world.
“It’s definitely an opportunity,” Murray said in a video conference Thursday. “It’s a big opportunity. Like the stage, the competition, there’s definitely gonna be a lot of people watching these games, so it’s definitely always an opportunity to get out there on the court and show something that you can do.”
Even with the spotlight on TBT and War Tampa, the players don’t feel any added pressure to perform.
“The only pressure is to go ahead and get this dub,” Murray said. “Go in here, compete, and go get this win like it’s just like any other game. There’s not gonna be any fans, everybody’s gonna be watching, it’s just like any other game, go out there and compete and win the game. Execute. Same gameplan.”
After playing in the Final Four during his senior year at Auburn before going to the G-League, Brown knows how to handle the big stage.
“(The TBT) is definitely an opportunity, but I feel like, in these times, you still want to stay within yourself because there are a lot of people watching,” Brown said. “You want to stay doing what you’re doing. I’m not a big believer. I really dislike when people see they’re an ESPN game, and they want to try to do too much at times.”
Brown is thankful for his teammates as well; all guys committed to playing team basketball.
“I’m very familiar with the guys,” Brown said. “We want to play good team ball. We have already talked about it. We have good chemistry. We have people that shoot.”
One of the shooters Brown is referring to is former Wofford star, Fletcher Magee. During his four years at Wofford, Magee averaged 18.8 points per game, while shooting 43.5 % from deep. Magee holds the NCAA record with 509 made 3-pointers in his career.
Along with the sharpshooters on War Tampa, former Auburn big man Spencer will be looking to capitalize on TBT’s opportunity. After being a crucial part of Auburn’s Final Four run, Spencer signed with Atenas Cordoba in Argentina.
Spencer spent the season in Argentina, where he adjusted to a different style of basketball and a whole new language and culture.
“Argentina was really a learning curve for me playing my first pro basketball,” Spencer said. “It was just a learning curve at first, mainly the preseason I had to get accustomed to the basketball, but as time went on, I feel I really dominated my role, dominated my position and really dominated my team, so we had more opportunities to win.”
While all the players have grown and adapted their style since playing Auburn, Brown says it’ll still be pretty similar to what Auburn fans are used to.
“Just look out for a show,” Brown said. “We’re going to try to put on one. We’re going to shoot a lot of threes, so it’s going to be very similar to Auburn basketball. We’re going to play hard 1-5. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t play hard, you’re not going to win. Look forward to us playing hard and making a lot of shots.”
Brown and War Tampa take on House of ‘Paign on July 4, at 7:00 p.m. CST on ESPN.
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