AUBURN | Trey Patterson was impressed. It was hard not to be.

The No. 30 player in the 2021 class watched the atmosphere in Auburn begin to buzz Saturday morning and continue through the night as the No. 17 Tigers beat No. 14 Kentucky, 75-66.

“We flew in (Saturday) morning and got to watch College GameDay live,” Patterson said. “We got to see the atmosphere. The students were pretty energetic in the morning and it was pretty cool to see them carry that energy into the game.”

Patterson, from Rutgers Prep School (NJ), was one of several recruits among the sellout crowd in Auburn Arena.

“I thought (the crowd) was amazing, just the amount of energy the students brought to the game,” Patterson said. “They impacted the game. I thought that was pretty cool.”

So was the game.

“Coach (Bruce) Pearl really gives his guys freedom to play,” Patterson said. “They really got after it on the defensive end. They tried to out-tough Kentucky, which was one of (Pearl’s) points of emphasis during pregame film, and they did that pretty well. I felt like that was one of the major keys as to why they won the game.”

Patterson now has taken official visits to Auburn, Florida and Indiana. He plans to take several more before making his college choice.

Patterson doesn’t have any leaders at this point.

“I like them all right now,” he said. “I’m just evaluating all colleges right now, but I’m serious about Auburn.”

Rivals ranks Patterson, who is 6-foot-8 and 210 pounds, the No. 7 power forward in the 2021 class.