Auburn basketball will face its road test of the season when they travel to Tampa Bay to take on the South Florida Bulls.
The Tigers are coming off of a 93-65 win against UL Monroe in a game where Auburn struggled early but pulled away in the second half. Auburn star freshman Jabari Smith dropped 23 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four steals and two blocks.
The Bulls are 2-1 on the season, but have struggled on offense in their last two games, only managing to put up 41 and 56 points against Georgia Southern and North Carolina A&T, respectively.
In their last two games, the Bulls shot 26% against Georgia Southern and 32% against North Carolina A&T, but head coach Bruce Pearl mentioned that they were getting open looks that just weren’t falling, so the Tigers need to be careful as those looks could start falling at anytime.
Although the Bulls offense has struggled, the defense has not, as the Bulls are allowing just 53.6 points per game, which is good enough for 18th in points allowed in the country.
South Florida is returning three starters, including guard Caleb Murphy, who was the 92nd ranked recruit in the 2020 recruiting class. Murphy is a high-flyer and he leads the Bulls in scoring and assists with 9.7 points 3.7 assists per game.
The Bulls also took advantage of the transfer portal, as they acquired guard Javon Greene and forward Jake Boggs.
Murphy is the Bulls’ leading scorer, but only 5.7 points separate him and Sam Hines, who is the eighth leading scorer on the team, so the scoring attack from the Bulls is very balanced.
Friday’s game will begin at 6 p.m. CST and will be streamed on ESPN-plus. This will be Auburn’s final game before it heads to the Bahamas to face Connecticut in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
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Henry is a sophomore from Dallas, Texas. This is his second year with The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @Henry_Patton23
