Following the Tigers' first loss of the season, head coach Larry Vickers and Auburn will travel north as they look to bounce back against Syracuse in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Wednesday evening.
Auburn has gotten off to a hot start in Vickers first season on the plains, cruising to an 8-0 record, their best start in a decade prior to dropping their first contest of the year. Vickers had turned Norfolk State into a winning program in a timely fashion, and it looks like those winning ways may have successfully been installed on the plains thus far.
Standout freshman Harissoum Coulibaly has been an integral part of the team’s early success, averaging more than 10 points per game while coming off the bench. Coulibaly was a top-100 overall prospect out of Virginia but calls Paris home, having moved to the United States for high school.
Vickers had high praise for the stellar first-year athlete after her top performance against Georgia State, where she recorded 19 points, going 8-for-11 from the field.
“Harissoum’s special,” Vickers said. “I don’t know if anybody’s faster, especially when she dips her shoulders”
Fellow freshman Uche Izoje has led her Syracuse squad to a great start similar to the Tigers, as the Orange have only faltered one game to a top-10 Michigan team while taking care of business in the team’s six other matchups. Izoje has averaged 12.4 points per game through seven contests while also finding herself atop the stat sheet for rebounding.
Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack has installed a strong offensive system into her team this year, with the Orange averaging 86 points per game, 17 more than Auburn’s average. While Auburn’s matchups tended to be lower scoring early in the season, the defense has done a great job containing opponents, letting up just 51 points per game — 13 points below Syracuse’s average points allowed. The combination of Vickers’ gritty defense and Legette-Jack’s stellar offense should create many exciting battles on Wednesday night.
Although Auburn and Syracuse have not gone head to head in more than two decades, the Tigers have dominated the all-time series going back to 1988, claiming victory in all five matchups and winning by an average margin of 18. Auburn has found similar success thus far in the ACC/SEC Challenge, as it has won both of its annual matchups in previous years while finding victories against Virginia and Clemson.
Auburn’s third annual ACC/SEC Challenge pairing is set for tipoff on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. CST inside JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York. The game will air on ACC Network, while radio coverage will be available on ESPN 106.7 FM.
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Will is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @willdembo
