Spencer, Brown suspended

AUBURN | Auburn will be without two starters when it hosts Coastal Carolina Thursday night.

Center Horace Spencer and guard Bryce Brown, both sophomores, have been suspended after an arrest Tuesday night, head coach Bruce Pearl announced Wednesday.

"Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer will not practice today nor will they play tomorrow,"Pearl said. "Unfortunately they were arrested for misdemeanor possession. We’re disappointed. They are embarrassed. These are really good kids that have done a lot of really good things. They made a mistake and they are going to pay a price for that mistake.

"I’ve talked to both of the young men and I’ve talked to their families. They understand that they’re role models and they understand that they’ve let their Auburn family down, they’ve let their own families down. They feel really badly about it.”

Pearl said the length of the suspension has not been decided.

“We’ll be without our best defender in Bryce Brown and we’ll be without our best rebounder in Horace Spencer,” Pearl said. “It will complicate things even further.”

Pearl said guard TJ Lang, who injured his knee against Boston College Monday, is not 100 percent but should be ready to play. T.J. Dunans missed the BC game with an illness but returned to practice Tuesday and should be in the starting lineup Thursday.

"Dunans is our best rebounding guard. He's also probably my best play-making guard, so getting him back is significant," Pearl said.

Spencer has started Auburn’s first eight games this season averaging 5.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.

Brown is averaging 6.9 points and 1.3 steals per game in eight starts. He’s been in a bit of a shooting slump, making 11-of-43 from 3-point range (25.6 percent).

Tip-off for Auburn’s game against the Chanticleers at Auburn Arena is set for 8 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.