228 days after its historic 2021-22 season ended in Greenville, South Carolina, the Auburn men’s basketball team will finish its preparation for the 2022-23 campaign in an exhibition contest against Division II foe Alabama-Huntsville.
Head coach Bruce Pearl, now beginning his ninth season at Auburn, has seen his teams struggle in exhibition games in the past.
Last season, the eventual SEC champions needed a late 22-0 run to come back and win against Southern Indiana and, in 2018, the Tigers lost their exhibition to Barry before winning the SEC regular-season championship.
“We’ve got a history of having close games against some of these Division II teams,” Pearl said. “We were very fortunate to beat Southern Indiana a couple of times. We got beat by Barry in a year I thought we were pretty decent, we had a pretty good year that year too.”
Although UAH is in a lower division, Pearl is not taking Auburn’s opportunity against the Chargers for granted. The Chargers were ranked No. 24 in the preseason Division II coaches poll and are coming off of a Gulf South Conference championship. This season, UAH returns all five starters from that team.
“It won’t be much like a lot of teams that we play, so from that standpoint, it’s not going to be great,” Pearl said. “They’ll be competitive. They bring everybody back from a year ago. If we don’t play them smart, they could hang around.”
Forward Chris Moore was impressed with what the Chargers showed on film and had high praise for the UAH program.
“Really great team,” Moore said. “They’re ranked No. 24 in Division II. They’ve got a lot of shooters. We’ve basically got to come out and play our best game and just give effort and energy.”
The Chargers' shooters also impressed guard Wendell Green Jr., who expressed a need for Auburn to defend the 3-point shot on Wednesday.
“They can really shoot it,” Green said. “That's the No. 1 thing. They take a lot of threes and make a lot of threes. So we've got to defend that."
Wednesday’s exhibition will give the Tigers a chance to play in front of fans at Neville Arena for the first time this season. It will provide Pearl with the opportunity to see how his players perform in front of an energized fan base.
“It’s the first time we’re going to be in front of fans,” Pearl said. “So will they change? Will all of a sudden the shot that has not been a good shot become a good shot when you're playing in front of your family and your fan base?”
The 2022-23 edition of Auburn’s team will feature a blend of familiar faces and newcomers. One returner from whom Pearl has noticed improvement is Allen Flanigan.
“Allen’s had a couple of the best weeks of his career,” Pearl said. “The last two or three weeks have been really, really good. He’s been consistently good in practice. He’s been effective. He’s been winning. He’s been making plays on both ends of the floor. His energy and efforts have been consistent.”
As the season draws near, Flanigan and Moore are competing for playing time. In that tight competition, Moore has seen growth not only in Flanigan, but also in his own confidence.
“I feel like I’ve progressed the most in my confidence,” Moore said. “Coaches have been telling me the past two years that I need to play like Chris Moore…So hopefully this year, I get my confidence to just be me.”
Though Flanigan and Moore are competing for game minutes, their competition is a friendly one as both try to make the other better.
“There’s competition, but there’s also brotherly love with that too,” Moore said. “He’s been helping me out to go step into his shoes. He’s just helped me with the mindset and the plays and keeps me on track.”
Those two are not the only Auburn players who have grown since the team's NCAA Tournament run ended. Green Jr., in his second season as a Tiger, has seen his leadership role grow following the end of last season.
“My leadership isn’t really for the fans. It’s for the team,” Green said. “You might not be able to see how much I’m moving from the outside looking in. We put in hundreds of hours in the summer and my leadership got stronger over that time… I wanted to keep our team together to handle adversity.”
One newcomer who will not participate is guard Chance Westry. The freshman Westry, along with Pearl, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in October. Pearl, who still uses a crutch for walking assistance, said Westry is “a few weeks away” from returning to action.
Tip-off for Wednesday night’s showcase will be at 7 p.m. CST from Neville Arena. After an offseason that included three games in Israel and a secret scrimmage against UAB, Wednesday’s game will be the Tigers’ final test before Monday's season opener against George Mason.
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Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
