Coming off a rough road loss to No. 1 Arizona last Saturday, No. 21 Auburn will look to get back on track against the Chattanooga Mocs of the Southern Conference.
The Mocs have started the season with an underwhelming 5-5 record, but they face the Tigers fresh off a dominant 103-46 victory over Oakwood, a win that provided a much-needed confidence boost for a team still working to establish consistency.
Even with the disappointing outing from the Tigers last Saturday, there were some bright spots they could look to build on.
Despite being extremely undersized compared to Arizona’s roster, the Tigers led the game in offensive rebounds, blocks and steals.
Auburn star point guard Tahaad Pettiford also had a career performance against Arizona, dropping a career-high 30 points in 35 minutes of play. Auburn will be hoping this performance can help break Pettiford out of his shooting slump, which has seemingly plagued him throughout nonconference play. Pettiford is the only returning player from last year’s Final Four team, and if he can continue his strong play, he could very easily end up as a first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft.
The Tigers will also be hoping for bounce-back games from Keyshawn Hall and Kevin Overton, who — after a night against NC State in which they combined for 57 points and shot 11-of-16 from 3-point range (the first Auburn teammates to do so since Jared Harper and Bryce Brown in 2018) — shot just 4-of-19 from the floor against Arizona.
Hall and Overton have been strong offensive producers since transferring in from UCF and Texas Tech, respectively, over the summer. Hall has been the Tigers’ leader in both scoring and rebounding this season, while Overton is the third-leading scorer and the team leader in steals.
The Tigers’ main struggle in recent games has been turnovers; they have combined for 35 in their last two outings.
Auburn will look to play more disciplined basketball before SEC play begins at the start of the new year. As the Tigers look to take down the Mocs this Saturday afternoon, they will also be preparing to address and fix any issues in their offensive scheme before their road matchup with No. 6 Purdue next Saturday.
Make sure to catch the Tigers in Neville Arena on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CST as head coach Steven Pearl and his team look to cap off their final three games in what has been an up-and-down but still promising nonconference slate, one that has already tested the Tigers’ resilience and potential.
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Jonathan is a freshman majoring in industrial and systems engineering. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2025.
