Steven Pearl's Auburn Tigers have now taken three serious lickings in their first 12 games of the non-conference portion of their 2025-26 slate.
The first was a 102-72 lashing at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Feast Week. Auburn's second embarrassment came at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals in a 97-68 rout in Tucson. To be fair, those two teams may be a better March Madness bet than the field at this point, though there's plenty to learn in Big Ten and Big 12 play.
Saturday's 88-60 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers in the Indy Classic from the Gainebridge Fieldhouse was just the latest reminder that the Tigers are in the midst of a rebuilding season under a head coach who found out he'd be in the seat mere weeks before tip-off.
On3's Justin Hokanson believes that the program is in a better place for SEC play after taking those losses to three top-six teams on the chin.
"Arizona, Michigan and Purdue are elite teams in CBB this season. Auburn is not there. The non-conference slate is what this group needed. The blowouts aren't ideal, but they will serve as wake-up calls before SEC play. Get better on defense or suffer the consequences," Hokanson wrote.
Auburn may not have the personnel defensively to compete
Auburn no longer has the presence in the paint that it had with Dylan Cardwell, Johni Broome, and Chaney Johnson. The Tigers aren't a big team and don't rebound or defend like they used to. Steven Pearl never minces his words about what he thinks of the product.
Kevin Overton is as advertised as a shooter and scorer, but Tahaad Pettiford has been wildly inconsistent. The backcourt isn't a problem, but even that isn't the roster strength that it was last season.
These aren't the Tigers of the post-pandemic Bruce Pearl era. Those were far more complete teams. Had BP been able to put together another roster of that caliber, he probably wouldn't hung it up just yet. Bruce said he wanted to retire on top. He clearly didn't feel this year's team was capable of reaching the same heights as last year.
While this team can get hot in the SEC Tournament and make it, Auburn feels destined for life on the bubble this season. At best.
Searching for silver linings in a three-game sample size they lost by 87 feels like a different universe than the one we were in this past April in San Antonio.