AUBURN — The return status of two Auburn starters — center Austin Wiley and combo guard Samir Doughty — remains cautiously optimistic.

What we know so far, however: Neither has made their way back to the practice floor, so they won't play in the Lincoln Memorial exhibition on Friday. Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl went so far as to call Wiley and Doughty "doubtful" for the regular-season opener against South Alabama on Nov. 6.

Pearl said each player's availability for that game will depend on their ability to fully participate in practice beforehand.

"Samir is getting closer. Austin is getting closer," Pearl said Thursday. "But neither one have practice, and typically what I do — and first of all the trainers and the student-athletes decide when they’re ready — Typically what I do is if you’re not able to go through a contact practice prior to a contest, then you probably should not play."

The next opportunity do so will be Sunday, two days before the season-opener.

Pearl said Doughty's ankle is the "closest to being ready" in comparison to Wiley's foot injury recovery. If Doughty is able to go through full-contact practice Sunday, it will be possible to see him in the lineup.

That's not Pearl's expectation at this time.

"But at this point, they're both doubtful," he said.

One piece of optimism: Pearl doesn't expect their absences to linger.

In fact, when asked about the Maui Invitational specifically, Pearly quickly confirmed he anticipates Wiley and Doughty to be available when Auburn takes on the likes of Xavier, Duke, Arizona, Gonzaga and others.

Even expecting full health by Maui, the lost time without Wiley and Doughty presents its own issues.

Pearl made it clear in his first practice press conference of the fall he had a plan for outlining player roles. Members of his team had requested defined roles as early in the preseason as possible.

Wiley's early exit with a foot injury has kept him off the court for the last month. Doughty's ankle injury in practice two weeks ago, at least, gave the Tigers a chance to experiment with his versatility in the rotation.

These injuries will delay some of that planning.

"I think the big challenge would be simply this: If we do get Samir and Austin back in the next week or two, what does that do? It’s great to have them back. But, they’ve been out a while. So, how quickly can they adjust? How quickly can we adjust? How quickly can they get in shape? How quickly can they learn back to what we’re doing?" Pearl said. "It’s been almost 4-5 weeks of practice time that is gone for them. They’ll be a period in the early season where we’re get acclimated. Unfortunately, that period includes South Alabama, Washington and Maui."