The Auburn Tigers are set to travel to Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to officially get their 2023-24 basketball season underway in a matchup against Baylor after an exhibition match against Auburn-Montgomery.
After beating Auburn-Montgomery 102-66 on Wednesday night, the Tigers will make the trip to South Dakota to start their official season and see where they stand against Baylor University, whose basketball team is ranked 20th in the nation among Division I schools.
Baylor University also played an exhibition game in a closed-door scrimmage in Phoenix when it took on No. 11 Gonzaga. The Baylor University Bears suffered an 81-78 loss where they were behind for most of the game and only managed to hold a lead for three minutes.
This game will mark the seventh time that these two teams face off against each other with Baylor dominating this series, winning five and losing two. The last time Auburn played Baylor was in January 2021 when they lost by a score of 84-72. The Auburn Tigers will want to break an unwanted streak of three losses in a row against the Bears.
The Tigers will want to build off their successful exhibition game and gain some momentum to kickstart their season. Despite Auburn’s struggles from 3-point range, going 5-for-25, junior guard Denver Jones managed to tally 18 points on the night and went 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, garnering both the most points and 3-pointers.
Another consistent scorer of the night was junior Chaney Johnson, who went 6-for-10 on field goals and 2-for-7 on free throws – mustering up a total of 14 points for the team.
Although the Tigers came out on top in their exhibition game, they fell behind in the first half of the game, trailing 16-15 at one point before the Tigers managed to find a rhythm to go on a 34-13 run. This must be something Auburn looks to fix against a top opponent in Baylor, where they cannot afford to start the game off slowly without dreading the consequences.
The Baylor Bears will look to turn their fortunes around from their scrimmage against Gonzaga and come out with a win against Auburn. Baylor hasn’t suffered a loss in their opening game since the 2018-19 season when it lost to Texas Southern.
The Bears will want to gain some positives after their defeat to Gonzaga, which shouldn’t be seen as a terrible loss considering Gonzaga is ranked No. 11 in the nation. Junior guard Jayden Nunn led the Bears in points during the game, racking up 16. He went 5-for-10 in field goals and 1-for-3 in 3-pointers, also leading the Bears in both categories.
While Baylor will want to search for positives to take away from the loss, it'll also need to focus on a negative, its shooting percentage. The Bears only managed to shoot 38% from the field throughout the whole game.
The Auburn Tigers tip off their season when they take on the Baylor Bears on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. CST on ESPN.
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Hector Hernandez is a freshman from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in building science. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
