Auburn basketball: November rematch against Washington canceled after Pac-12 decision

The Tigers were set to travel to Washington to face off against the Huskies this season. That game is now seemingly off the table.

It was a big day for Pac-12 athletics. And not necessarily in a good way. Following the decision of the Big Ten to cancel fall sports and attempt to push them back to spring, the Pac-12 took things a step forward with a decision to cancel all sports through the 2020 calendar year.

The conference had already decided earlier in the day to officially postpone the 2020 college football season but after a unanimous vote from Pac-12 officials all sports competitions, which obviously includes men’s basketball, will be canceled until at least January 2021.

Back in June, Auburn basketball announced that it would travel to Alaska Airlines Arena for the first time in program history to face off against the Washington Huskies in Seattle.

The game was scheduled for November 19 and was set to be a rematch of the 2018 matchup between the two teams in Auburn Arena. The game was originally supposed to happen last season but in April of 2019, it was pushed back to the 2020-21 season.

Now, it appears that, if these two teams want a rematch, it’ll likely have to happen in the 2021-22 season.

As for the 2018 matchup, it was the first time the two teams had ever faced off in basketball. A ranked  Huskies squad led by future NBA players Matisse Thybulle and Jaylen Norwell came into Auburn arena with the goal of disrupting the Tigers’ season in only the second game of the year.

However, behind a raucous Auburn Arena crowd, the Tigers got off to a hot start and never looked back on their way to an 88-66 victory for Auburn. The Tigers were led by a balanced effort which included 19 points and 10 rebounds from Chuma Okeke and 18 points from Samir Doughty.

if the game had been played this year, Auburn would have had to do so without a single scholarship player from that 2018-19 roster. On the other hand, Washington would have had two players remaining from the previous matchup. Now, with the game possibly pushed back further or even canceled for good, we may see completely different rosters from both squads.

Last season, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl led the Tigers to a 25-6 record and what would’ve likely been a third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance if not for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the Tigers have lost their top six scorers this offseason and go into next season with uncertainty. At the same time, the Tigers will have zero seniors next season so the roster should remain largely the same if the rematch is pushed back another year.

As for Washington, the team posted a disappointing 15-17 record this past season and will also lose a large amount of talent from last year’s team.

The SEC has yet to make any decisions regarding the 2020-21 basketball season as well as the fate of other sports. The conference is also currently still planning to have a college football season which will be played with a 10-game, conference-only schedule.