Auburn’s 2026-27 basketball schedule is taking shape, and Steven Pearl’s second season will open with no shortage of chances to make noise.
The Tigers are coming off an NIT Championship and will try to carry that momentum into a year built around a loaded non-conference slate. Auburn’s path before SEC play includes a mix of home dates, a high-end neutral-site tournament and one road trip that stands out immediately.
The season starts Nov. 4 against Southeast Louisiana at Neville Arena, with Appalachian State coming in later that week. From there, Auburn gets its first major measuring stick when Arizona visits the Jungle on Nov.
- The Wildcats reached the Final Four last season and are expected to be dangerous again with a blend of returning players and incoming transfers.
Auburn’s home non-conference list also includes Lipscomb, Eastern Kentucky, Alabama State, Lehigh and Morgan State.
The Tigers’ only confirmed true road game in non-conference play is Dec. 1 at Clemson in the ACC/SEC Challenge. That meeting carries a little extra weight, too: it will be the first matchup between the programs since the 2018 NCAA Tournament, when Clemson eliminated Auburn in the Round of 32.
Before that Clemson trip, Auburn will spend time in Las Vegas for the Players Era 8 Tournament. The Tigers open against West Virginia and will play two more games after that, with the matchups determined by results.
Auburn also has two more out-of-conference tests locked in. The Tigers will face Middle Tennessee in the Rocket City Classic in Huntsville, Ala., on Dec. 15, then play Wisconsin in Nashville on Dec. 19.
SEC dates have not been set yet, but Auburn already knows the home-and-away split for conference play. At Neville Arena, the Tigers will host Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
On the road, they’ll visit Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss will be split across home-and-home series, with one game at Auburn and one on the road against each opponent.
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Auburn Commit Perfectly Captured How Different Alex Golesh Already Feels
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Myson Johnson-Cook, one of Auburns 2027 commits, captured the mood around the new staff with a light touch that said plenty about the change in tone. Golesh and offensive coordinator Joel Gordon are selling a new identity built around running the football with tempo, and for a fan base that spent a lot of time hearing about what went wrong before, the early reaction from the recruiting trail suggests the message is landing. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Got The Kind Of Schedule That Can Define A New Era
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For Alex Golesh, it is a first-season test with plenty of built-in pressure, because Auburns schedule is loaded with teams ESPN has among its top 25, including Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss. That kind of weekly climb can either accelerate a rebuild or expose how far the roster still has to go, which is why every stretch of the season will matter in a different way for Auburn than it might for most programs. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Got The Preseason SEC Respect Fans Wanted
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The recognition did not stop there. Jeremiah Cobb earned third-team honors and offensive lineman Cody Sigler was placed on the fourth team, giving Auburn a small but meaningful cluster of players across the leagues preseason list. For a program trying to establish momentum before the first snap, that kind of attention matters, even if the bigger question is how quickly those names can turn offseason praise into results once the games start. [Read more 🡒]