Head coach Larry Vickers and the Tigers are set for postseason action, as Auburn women’s basketball (14-16, 3-13 SEC) is slated to kick off its stint at the 2026 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
Auburn will face Texas A&M (14-11, 7-9 SEC) in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday inside the Palmetto State’s Bon Secours Wellness Arena, an event that hasn’t seen much success from the Tigers in recent years. Auburn has won just two games in the SEC Tournament over the last five years, including just one at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, with the last victory coming in 2024 over Arkansas.
Furthermore, the Tigers have historically struggled against the Aggies, as Auburn is 3-13 against Texas A&M all-time. The two teams last met just a few weeks ago on Feb. 15, and the Aggies emerged victorious, 81-63, despite 23 points from Auburn senior Kaitlyn Duhon.
Although it stands two games below .500 in conference play, Texas A&M is currently one of the hottest teams in the league. The Aggies won their last five games of the season, as well as six of their last seven, including victories over No. 21 Alabama, No. 21 Tennessee, and No. 19 Ole Miss.
Texas A&M is headlined by senior guard Ny’Ceara Pryor, who leads the Aggies in scoring with 15.9 points per game and assists with 7.2 per game. Pryor, a transfer from Sacred Heart, tops the league in steals, as she averages 3.5 steals per contest.
On the other hand, freshman guard Harrisoum Coulibaly is averaging a team-best 10.7 points per game, and she has finished in double-figures in three of Auburn’s last four outings.
However, the Auburn offense has seen its fair share of miscues and blunders, as it ranks last in scoring (59.7 points per game) and has just one Tiger consistently averaging 10+ points. The next two most productive players are Duhon and sophomore forward Khady Leye, who average 9.7 and 9.2 points per game, respectively.
A win over the Aggies on Wednesday would propel the Tigers to the second round of the SEC Tournament, something they haven’t seen since 2024. Because Auburn is the No. 15-seed, it would face the No. 7-seed Ole Miss on Thursday in the second round if it were to defeat Texas A&M.
After Ole Miss, the road gets a lot tougher for the Tigers if they wish to win five games in five days to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, as they would then face No. 2-seeded Vanderbilt on Friday, likely No. 3-seeded Texas on Saturday in the semifinals, and likely No. 1-seeded South Carolina or No. 4-seeded LSU in Sunday’s championship game.
With the Tigers nowhere near the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, winning five consecutive games in Greenville stands as the only route to the Big Dance (auto-bid). However, Vickers certainly isn’t unfamiliar with success in conference tournaments, as the first-year head coach won four straight MEAC Tournament titles over the last four seasons at Norfolk State.
Auburn will tip off against Texas A&M at 5 p.m. CST on Wednesday evening, and it will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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Gunner is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @norene_gunner10
