11/4/2019 football Edit

Tigers expect 'eye-opening' start to nonconference slate

Nathan King • AuburnSports

Staff

Bruce Pearl is hoping his team plays a tight game in the coming weeks.

With Auburn set to begin its season Tuesday night against Georgia Southern, Pearl sees the beginning of the Tigers' nonconference slate as a stretch that could be "extremely eye-opening" for he and his players.

Austin Wiley (50) had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double in the Tigers' exhibition game Friday. (Todd Van Emst / Auburn Athletics)

There wasn't much to criticize from Auburn's 97-53 exhibition victory over Eckerd in last Friday's exhibition, though Pearl did note that his biggest gripe with the victory was the lack of defensive communication, as Eckerd pulled down 18 offensive boards.

Pearl will be keeping a close eye on the Tigers' defense around the rim again tomorrow night.

"The hardest thing for us against Georgia Southern is going to guarding our yard," Pearl said. "Just kind of keeping them out of the lane, because they really can attack the basket, really get to the foul line.

"... As far as opening night matchups in college basketball, this is the highest scoring matchup in college basketball based on the fact that we are about 80 and they were 82 (points per game) last year. This ball is gonna get up and down the floor — it's gonna fly. [Georgia Southern does] do stuff that is just really hard to guard, so it's gonna put our guys in some really uncomfortable places, particularly in transition."

Past Georgia Southern, which was picked to finish third in the Sun Belt in the conference's preseason coaches poll, Auburn will face Davidson on Friday in Annapolis, Md.

Davidson is projected to finish second in the Atlantic-10, and junior guard Kellan Grady is a trendy pick to be the conference's player of the year.

Then a road trip to Mobile, Ala., is on deck the following Tuesday to face South Alabama, which was voted to win its conference title this year.

"Three games, seven days, all really good and experienced opponents," Pearl said. "It is gonna be extremely eye-opening. I can tell you if we have some success I am going to be really pleased with where we are. If we struggle, which won't surprise me because the new pieces, then we will just have more to work on. I do think I've got a team that will be really good, and we are going to find out whether we are good enough Tuesday night."

Though the Tigers are still feeling out their new roles — even veteran players — they would rather have the tough outs to test their worth before the season kicks into high gear.

"I like the tough opponents," guard Jamal Johnson said. "It will get us ready for the SEC season and everything. We've got a good first couple games. Georgia Southern is going to be good tomorrow — tough matchup to prepare us for the upcoming season."

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