On Sunday, the No. 22 Auburn Tigers suffered a tough, one-point loss to the No. 1 Houston Cougars. Both teams made it to the Final Four last year, although the Cougars had far more than only one player from last year's squad return for the 2025-26 season.
Not only are the Tigers an almost completely new team this season, but they're also adjusting to having Steven Pearl as the official head coach. Still, Pearl's remarks following the close loss show that despite the coaching change the expectations for Auburn basketball are remaining the same.
"We expected to win the game," Pearl said, per Auburn Undercover. "Moral victories are for losers... I told our guys I thought we were the better team. I have elite confidence in this group. But for us, it's what we do from here."
Pearl went on to say that his team should have been just as capable of winning the game as Houston, even with all the hype the Cougars have been rightly receiving as the No. 1 team.
"That's what Auburn basketball has been for eight years now, and that was our emphasis going into this game," Pearl said. "We rebound too, right? We guard physically too. We fly around too. And I told our guys, the expectation is to win the game, not play the game close. And obviously, really disappointed that we came up short."
The Tigers will quickly have the opportunities to redeem themselves against highly ranked opponents. They are scheduled to take on No. 6 Michigan later this month in the Players Era Festival, and then No. 5 Arizona in early December.
Auburn basketball returns to action on Wednesday against Jackson State at 8:00 p.m. in Neville Arena.