At Steven Pearl’s introductory press conference, the 21st head coach in Auburn basketball history preached that his young team would experience growing pains early in the season, and that’s exactly what we saw tonight on the Plains.
No. 20 Auburn escaped Neville Arena Monday night with a 95-90 overtime victory over SWAC favorite Bethune-Cookman.
“I know Auburn fans are tired of being told to be patient, so we're going to get to work,” Pearl said following the nail-biting win.
The Tigers are returning only one starter from last year’s historic Final Four team, so it isn’t surprising they struggled on the defensive end in the opener without their cornerstone pieces.
“We just have to adjust to the fact that we’ve had some of the best interior defenders in the game in Walker Kessler, Dylan Cardwell, and Johni Broome,” Pearl said. “But we don’t have any of those guys now.”
Quentin Heady led Bethune-Cookman with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field. The Wildcats did everything they could to try to upset Auburn, shooting 50.7% from the field and 54.5% from behind the arc.
One part of being a young team is that some players will grow up faster than others. Freshman forward Sebastian Williams-Adams is improving game by game, and it will be exciting to see his performance once SEC play begins.
Four days after recording nine points on 100% shooting from the field in Auburn’s final exhibition game, Williams-Adams tallied 15 points and six rebounds. The Houston native also appears to be developing into a leader on this youthful squad.
“This wasn’t a wakeup call. We knew what Bethune-Cookman could be,” Williams-Adams said. “These are guys that could be at an SEC level. Most people would overlook this team… but we gave them respect.”
Texas Tech transfer Kevin Overton made several key plays down the stretch, including six points and three steals in the final minute of regulation and overtime.
“Good players make good plays, and KO wanted to step up and make plays for the team necessary to get the win,” forward KeShawn Murphy said of Overton.
Auburn’s next game will be Thursday night at Neville Arena against Merrimack. It will be one of two remaining games for the Tigers to work out the kinks before taking on No. 2 Houston in Birmingham, Alabama, on Nov. 16.
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Rory is a sophomore majoring in journalism sports production. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @RorymGarvin
