First impressions can stick, and Auburn has a few things to clean up after last week’s preseason run in Boutwell Auditorium.
The Tigers opened with an 11-point loss to Florida State, and the biggest headline came from the paint. Florida State’s Marcis Ponder, a 7-foot, 285-pound true freshman from Miami, took over with 13 points, 21 rebounds - 12 on the offensive glass - and three blocks.
He also knocked down 5 of 6 free throws, avoided turnovers, picked up a steal and finished with just one foul. For a player making his unofficial NCAA debut, that’s about as loud a first night as you can have.
And Auburn’s frontcourt, which is still sorting itself out, had no clean answer.
That’s not just about size, either. Auburn’s new bigs could line up with Ponder physically.
What they didn’t match was his edge. Steven Pearl said the four-star center brought the fight early and often, and with Auburn also stuck in a cold shooting spell, the Tigers spent the night chasing the game.
The box score told part of the story. The film told the rest.
One of the first issues Auburn ran into was shot selection, especially from Bukky Oboye. The Santa Clara transfer, now in his fourth season of college basketball, is playing at a power-conference program for the first time, and Pearl’s blunt assessment after the game was that Oboye “has to be better”
Early against Florida State’s 2-3 zone, Oboye flashes into the high post and Auburn has a useful look developing. Caleb Williams cuts to the rim, Ponder steps up on the ball, and Oboye has a high-low option with a teammate available.
Instead, he hurries into a left-handed, 12-foot hook over Ponder’s length. There is contact on the closeout, but the shot is rushed and tightly challenged, and it never reaches the rim.
The mess doesn’t stop there. Auburn briefly has a 5-on-2 advantage in transition, but the spacing breaks down when Adam Olsen and Oboye end up in the same lane toward the left block, and George Kimble III’s lob attempt gets stuffed by the chaos. Oboye still has a chance to recover and finish the play, but the better choice would have been to power through contact or move the ball.
Later, he gets an isolated post touch on the right block and goes back to the same look, only for Ponder to bother another jump hook that misses wide left. That gives Auburn three first-half paint attempts without even testing the rim.
There were some promising moments for the Tigers’ front line, but they were buried under the bigger issue: Auburn’s bigs never settled into the game the way Florida State’s did. Ponder controlled the lane, and Auburn spent the night trying to figure out what went wrong.
Now the Tigers move forward with a little film work and a lot of early-season cleanup ahead. The big question is simple: how did Florida State’s teenage center take over the paint, where did Auburn show a little life, and what does all of it say about the work still ahead for this new-look frontcourt?
In Other News...
LSU Faces A Dangerous Road Test Auburn Is Built To Exploit
LSU heads to Auburn for an SEC matchup that already has the feel of a stress test for both sides. The Tigers are still carrying the energy from Auburns upset over Georgia, and both coaching staffs have acknowledged how hard it can be to keep that emotional edge once the next week arrives. For LSU, the setting matters almost as much as the opponent, because recent SEC road trips have been a problem and this one lands in a place where Auburn should have a crowd fully behind it.
The numbers point to LSU as the steadier team on paper, with advantages in several offensive and defensive categories, but the trip to Jordan-Hare has a way of shrinking those edges. Auburn does not need to be perfect at home to make life uncomfortable, especially when the atmosphere is already primed after a signature win. For LSU, the challenge is turning statistical superiority into a road performance, and for Auburn, it is about using the home-field surge before the emotional letdown has a chance to settle in. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Still Waiting On Key Signee As Eligibility Fight Drags On
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Rubtaviius situation has become a reminder that roster building does not always move on a clean timetable, especially when eligibility questions are still tied up in court. For Auburn, the bigger concern is simple: a player expected to be part of the mix is still stuck in limbo, and there is no clear resolution yet as the Tigers prepare for the next step of their preseason schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Is Giving Jordan-Hare An Extra Edge For LSU
Jordan-Hare Stadium is set to sound a little different for Auburns next home test. The university plans to amplify the crowd atmosphere for Saturdays matchup with No. 18 LSU by using microphones for the marching band and field-level speakers, a move aimed at turning an already charged setting into something even more difficult for the visitors to navigate.
It comes on the heels of Auburns upset of No. 1 Georgia, which only sharpened the anticipation around another major home stage. The LSU game is set for 11 a.m. Central on ABC, and with kickoff coming early in the day, Auburn is clearly looking for every possible edge to make Jordan-Hare feel as loud as it can from the start. [Read more 🡒]