Auburn Gears Up for High-Stakes Clash with NC State After Strong Showing in Vegas
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn’s early-season gauntlet continues, and head coach Steven Pearl isn’t blinking.
Coming off a 2-1 performance at the Players Era event in Las Vegas - with wins over Oregon and No. 14 St.
John’s surrounding a tough loss to No. 7 Michigan - the 20th-ranked Tigers are right back in the fire.
Next up: a Wednesday night showdown with NC State in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Pearl’s message to his team? Stay level, win or lose.
“Just like the Michigan game, you can’t get too low because you’ve got to respond and get ready for the next one,” Pearl said. “We can’t get too high after beating a good St. John’s team because you’ve got an NC State team tomorrow that’s going to be [ticked off] because they went 1-2 in Maui and they were probably the best team out there.”
That’s not coach-speak. NC State may have left Maui with a losing record, but they didn’t play like a team to overlook.
Led by former LSU head coach Will Wade, the Wolfpack dropped games to Seton Hall and Texas but knocked off a solid Boise State squad. And now, they’re heading into their first true road game of the season - a test that comes after a nearly 10,000-mile round-trip from Raleigh to Hawaii and back.
Pearl knows what that kind of travel - and frustration - can do to a team’s mindset.
“I told our guys, they’re going to be playing with a different level of effort and energy than they’ve played with all year,” Pearl said. “They’re going to have their backs against the wall, their hair is going to be on fire and they’re going to be looking at this as a must-win game.”
Auburn’s hoping to match that intensity with its own home-court advantage. Pearl issued a direct call to the fanbase ahead of the 8:15 p.m. CT tip: show up and be loud.
“Folks who have season tickets who can’t make it, please transfer your tickets to a friend or anyone, to me, and I’ll find a way to get them out to somebody,” Pearl said. “We’ve got to get those things filled for this game. It’s our second-to-last home game before conference play, so we need a full house tomorrow night.
“I know our students are going to be fired up, ready to go. It should be a fun environment against a really good team.”
And make no mistake - NC State brings firepower. The Wolfpack are one of the hottest shooting teams in the country right now, averaging 11.3 made threes per game and hitting them at a blistering 42.2% clip. That’s not just good - that’s elite.
Auburn guard Kevin Overton is embracing the challenge, especially with a familiar face in the opposing lineup. Overton is set to square off against former Texas Tech teammate Darrion Williams, who’s leading NC State in scoring at 18.7 points per game.
“That’s something I take pride in,” Overton said of defending the perimeter. “I don’t think I’ve seen in my few years of playing college basketball a team shooting as well as they are right now across the board.”
This matchup is just the latest in a brutal nonconference schedule for Auburn. The Tigers are already battle-tested, with games against four current top-10 teams on the slate: No.
1 Purdue, No. 2 Arizona, No.
3 Michigan, and No. 8 Houston.
And it doesn’t stop here. After NC State, Auburn heads west for a marquee road game against second-ranked Arizona on Saturday night - a true measuring stick for a team with big aspirations.
“We have an unbelievable opportunity this week to play two high-powered offenses,” Pearl said. “To sit down and guard and see what we’re capable of.”
So far, Auburn’s shown it can hang with just about anybody. But with NC State coming in hungry and shooting the lights out, the Tigers will need every ounce of focus, energy, and home-court juice they can muster.
Tip-off is set for 8:20 p.m. CT on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network. Expect fireworks.