AUBURN | Allen Flanigan is getting close to his return.

“I think we heard originally maybe mid-December, and so we still would have some hope that that could be about the time we started getting him back,” Bruce Pearl said.

The expectation is that Flanigan will make his debut against Saint Louis (Dec. 18) or Murray State (Dec. 22) in a limited capacity. The forward suffered an injury to his right Achilles tendon back in September that required surgery.

One of the key players for Pearl’s squad, the 6-foot-6 junior led the Tigers in points (14.3 per game), rebounds (5.5), assists (2.9) and steals (0.9) last season.

Auburn hosts UCF on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Yale at 1 p.m. on Saturday.