It will be a Tiger-on-Tiger showdown on Thursday in Atlanta as No. 20 Auburn takes on Memphis in one final exhibition game before the regular season kicks off on November 3rd. Auburn, looking for their first win in the Steven Pearl era, looks to bounce back after dropping their first exhibition game to Oklahoma State in overtime 97-95 on October 15th.
Coming off arguably the most successful season in Men’s Basketball history, the expectations on Auburn Tigers have never been higher. And while the outcome against Oklahoma State wasn’t the start Auburn envisioned for their 2025-2026 season, it gave us an insight as to how the Tigers would look under Steven Pearl.
With only one returning player from last season's Final Four team, Auburn is relying on many new faces to step into key roles. One of those players is Keyshawn Hall. The 6 '7 transfer from UCF led Auburn in scoring in his first game as a Tiger with 26 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Hall looks like the early answer to who will be the Tigers scoring threat alongside preseason All SEC first team guard and returning sophomore Tahaad Pettiford. Auburn also appears to be relying heavily on true freshman Sebastian Williams-Adams. Despite not starting the game, Williams-Adams led all Tigers in playing time against Oklahoma State with 30:58 while flashing defensive upside with 9 total rebounds and a highlight-real block.
Under Steven Pearl, the Tigers appear to be playing a faster paced brand of basketball. The 95 points scored against OSU was 11.9 points per game higher than what the team averaged last season but 97 points allowed was more than any amount given up last season. Thursday’s exhibition will give the new look Tigers one more opportunity to continue building chemistry and fix any early-season issues before the regular tips off in under a week.
The Memphis Tigers are heading into their eighth season under head coach and former player Penny Hardaway. The reigning AAC champions are coming off a 99-75 loss to No.14 Arkansas on Monday, despite a fast start that saw the Tigers lead by 3 at halftime.
Memphis, like Auburn, has lots of questions coming into the 2025-2026 season. They are one of nine teams in college basketball who do not have a returning player from last season's team. Instead, Memphis has 15 new players with 13 transfers from across the NCAA.
Monday’s game was the first time this newly assembled Memphis roster took the court together, answering many questions about how the team. Senior guard Dug McDaniel was the offensive engine for Memphis. The Kansas State transfer led the team with 19 points and 6 assists in his 33:12 minutes of action, 7:89 more than any other player. Guards Curtis Givens III and Quante Berry as well as forwards Ashton Hardaway and Aaron Bradshaw also saw a majority of minutes in the game and look to be key pieces of the new look Memphis Tigers.
Memphis shot an underwhelming 24.3% from the field in the second half and also surrendered 22 second half free throws to Arkansas, leading to their 2nd half collapse. With so many changes, Memphis looks to use Thursday’s exhibition against Auburn to continue building team chemistry, solidify rotations, and gain confidence going into the start of the regular season.
Auburn and Memphis find themselves in similar situations. Both teams are coming off conference championship seasons but enter 2025 with entirely new rosters and in Auburn’s case a new head coach. This means both teams, in a way, are in the early stages of building chemistry and finding their identity as a team.
Thursday’s exhibition will give both teams one last tune up before the regular season starts next week. Expect a higher scoring game between the two Tigers as previous games proved both teams will look to push the pace of play and are vulnerable to giving up a high number of points.
Thursday's Tiger-on-Tiger clash will offer a glimpse of what is to come for two programs beginning new chapters with aspirations to get back into March Madness. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST and the game is available to stream on WarEagle+.
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Cooper is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2025.
