Auburn basketball won’t be participating in the 2020-’21 postseason, the program announced on Sunday.

Head coach Bruce Pearl, the athletics department and university administration worked to make the decision in response to the Chuck Person scandal in 2017.

Person was arrested in 2017 in a recruiting scandal that involved bribery.

In the release, the program believed the postseason ban was in the best long-term interest of the program.

“This was a difficult decision but the right decision. I hate it for our current players,” Pearl said. “They lost the opportunity for the postseason last year because of COVID, and now they will miss the postseason again. It’s a two-year postseason penalty for them. However, we need to take this penalty now to put it behind us.”

Because of the ongoing matter, the program said they will not comment further.

The Tigers start their season this Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida, with a matchup against St. Joe's. They'll play on Friday against Gonzaga in Fort Myers, along with a game at UCF on Monday, Nov. 30 before the home opener on Dec. 4 against South Alabama.