Games vs. West Virginia in the Pizza Hut Big East/SEC Invitational on ESPN2 in Birmingham's BJCC Arena Dec. 5 and against
NCAA participant George Washington in the BB&T Classic in Washington D.C.'s Verizon Center Dec. 2 also highlight the schedule.
The Tigers have nine games against NCAA Tournament teams in two-time defending national champion Florida, Arkansas (twice), Xavier,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, George Washington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The seven games against NIT teams include West Virginia, Alabama (twice), Mississippi State (twice) and Ole Miss (twice).
"We have some very good non-conference games, but our schedule overall is probably not going to be as challenging as it has been in the
past," said fourth-year Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo. "We are excited to play West Virginia and to play them in Birmingham is good.
We are playing Xavier in Auburn and will return the game to Cincinnati
next year.
"We will play George Washington in the BB&T Classic as part of a tripleheader with Maryland, VCU and George Mason. We have a couple of
in-state teams coming in here, play at Alabama State in Montgomery, and we're going to Mobile to play in the Coors Classic. It is good to
promote Auburn basketball by going around the state and play."
Ten of Auburn's first 15 Southeastern Conference games will be televised, including a pair of nationally-televised home games vs.
Alabama on CBS on Sun., Feb. 24 and vs. Arkansas on ESPN or ESPN2 on Thur., Jan. 10. The Tigers play West Virginia on ESPN2 and Xavier on
Fox Sports Net and will have several other non-conference games televised by CSS.
Although the Tigers have been on CBS 24 times, it will be the first time the network has ever televised a home Auburn basketball game.
The regular season finale at Arkansas could be picked up as a *wildcard* game by LFS. If it is, the 11 SEC games on TV would tie for the second-most televised regular season league games in a
season with 1983-84 and second only to the 14 televised SEC games in 1999-2000.
After an exhibition game vs. Bluefield College Nov. 1, Auburn
plays its season opener Nov. 9 at Tulane. The Tigers play only one home
game in its first seven games of the season, against Kennessaw State
Nov. 13. Auburn then plays at Alabama State Nov. 16, at Charleston
Southern Nov. 19, George Washington, West Virginia and then in
Mobile*s Coors Classic vs. Southern.
The Tigers return to play in Auburn more than a month later against Mercer Dec. 19, the first of six-straight home games. Auburn
plays host to Alabama A&M Dec. 22 and Towson University Dec. 29 before
playing host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Jan. 2. The Islanders led
Wisconsin for most of their 2007 NCAA Tournament first round game before
losing 76-63.
Auburn closes out non-conference play Jan. 6 against Xavier,
which lost to Ohio State 78-71 in overtime in the NCAA Tournament second
round.
The Tigers open SEC action at home vs. Arkansas Jan. 10 on
ESPN/ESPN2 before a two-game road trip at Florida Jan. 12 on LFS-TV and
at LSU on Jan. 16. Auburn plays host to Ole Miss on FSN Jan. 19 and
steps out of SEC play to face Presbyterian College Jan. 22. Auburn
plays at Alabama Jan. 26 on FSN and ends the month vs. LSU Jan. 30.
A road game at Vanderbilt Feb. 2 on FSN begins a run of four-straight
televised games followed by home games vs. Kentucky Feb. 6 on LFS and
Mississippi State Feb. 9 on FSN. The Tigers take a week off before
playing the next three of four games on the road beginning at Ole Miss
Feb. 16 on FSN and at Tennessee Feb. 20.
Auburn plays host to Alabama on CBS on Feb. 24 followed by a game at
Mississippi State Feb. 27, a pair of home games vs. South Carolina Mar.
1 on FSN and Georgia on Mar. 5 on Senior Day for Frank Tolbert, Quan Prowell and Archie Miaway.
A trip to Bud Walton Arena and a game against Arkansas closes out
regular season play Mar. 8 for Auburn before going to the SEC Tournament
in Atlanta*s Georgia Dome Mar. 13-16.
Auburn, which has eight weekend home games out of 16 in
Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, returns all its top players from last
year's 17-15 (7-9 SEC) team that came within 40 seconds of winning the
SEC's Western Division. It marked Auburn's first winning season
since the 2003 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 run. The Tigers return all
eight players who started last season, including five who averaged
double-digit points in addition to junior Quantez Robertson, who has
started all 60 games of his collegiate career.
The veteran team with three seniors and four juniors is led by Josh Dollard (12.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg), Prowell (12.0 ppg, 43% 3fgs), Tolbert (11.8
ppg), Korvotney Barber (11.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg), Rasheem Barrett (11.0 ppg),
Robertson (8.2 ppg, 5.1 apg) and 2007 Freshman All-SEC DeWayne Reed (5.4
ppg, 3.0 apg).
Tigers Unlimited, the fund-raising organization for the Auburn
University Athletics Department, is currently accepting basketball
ticket priority contributions for the upcoming season. A contribution to
Tigers Unlimited will secure the best seating available at
Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum and allow you to enjoy all of the exciting
home action.
For more information, please call the Tigers Unlimited or
Athletic Department ticket office at 1-800-AUB-1957 or visit
www.auburntigers.com.
2007-08 AUBURN BASKETBALL SCHEDULE (all times Central)
Nov. 1 Bluefield College (exh.), 7 pm
Nov. 9 at Tulane, TBA
Nov. 13 Kennesaw State, 7 pm
Nov. 16 at Alabama State, 7 pm
Nov. 19 (1) Charleston Southern, 6 pm
Dec. 2 (2) George Washington, 4 pm
Dec. 5 (3) West Virginia (ESPN2), 8:30 pm
Dec. 15 (4) Southern, TBA
Dec. 19 Mercer, 7 pm
Dec. 22 Alabama A&M, 7 pm
Dec. 29 Towson University, 1 pm
Jan. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7 pm
Jan. 6 Xavier (FSN), 2 pm
Jan. 10 Arkansas (ESPN/ESPN2), 8 pm
Jan. 12 at Florida (LFS), 11 am
Jan. 16 at LSU, 7 pm
Jan. 19 Ole Miss (FSN), 4 pm
Jan. 22 Presbyterian College, 7 pm
Jan. 26 at Alabama (LFS), 2 pm
Jan. 30 LSU, 7 pm
Feb. 2 at Vanderbilt (FSN), 4 pm
Feb. 6 Kentucky (LFS), 7 pm
Feb. 9 Mississippi State (FSN), 6 pm
Feb. 16 at Ole Miss (FSN), 4 pm
Feb. 20 at Tennessee, 6:30 pm
Feb. 24 Alabama (CBS), 1 pm
Feb. 27 at Mississippi State, 7 pm
Mar. 1 South Carolina (FSN), 5 pm
Mar. 5 Georgia, 7 pm
Mar. 8 at Arkansas, 2 pm
Mar. 13-16 (5) SEC Tournament (LFS/CBS)
(1) North Charleston, SC (North Charleston Coliseum)
(2) BB&T Classic (Washington, DC - Verizon Center)
(3) Big East/SEC Invitational (Birmingham, AL - BJCC Arena)
(4) Coors Classic (Mobile, AL - Mitchell Center)
(5) Atlanta, GA (Georgia Dome)
* All Times Central