Auburn Tigers’ Chaney Johnson Believes Team Is Prepared for Houston

Auburn’s second game of the season could be one of the toughest on its schedule. One of the team’s key players believes the Tigers are ready for the challenge

Auburn will take on one of its toughest opponents early in the season, but key players believe they can take them down / Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The No. 11 Auburn Tigers have one of the toughest schedules in college basketball this season and play one of their marquee matchups for just the second game on the slate.

After picking up a 94-43 win over Vermont to start the season at home on Wednesday night, Auburn faces the No. 4 Houston Cougars at Toyota Center on Saturday evening.

While this one will likely be far from easy for either side, Auburn forward Chaney Johnson believes his team is equipped to handle the challenge.

“It's going to be a good game,” Johnson said. “They're an amazing team, well coached. I've seen a couple things on Twitter where the coach has them diving on balls and stuff like that. It's definitely going to be a dog fight, but I feel like we're prepared.”

Johnson is feeling more comfortable in his second season with the Tigers. The jump from Division Two to SEC would be a big adjustment for any player and Johnson handled it as well as anyone. One thing that helped Johnson reach the level he has was playing with Jaylin Williams.

“Last year, first year at the Division-I level, I wanted to come in and be the guy,” Johnson said. “But you had an amazing player, an NBA player like Jaylin Williams. So being able to play under him, learn behind him and learn the ways of the Division-I game -- with one year under my belt, I feel like I learned a lot of things to where I can really be myself truly.”

Johnson’s improvement has not gone unnoticed by head coach Bruce Pearl who sees many differences from when Johnson first arrived in Auburn to now.

“Chaney's playing with confidence,” Pearl said. “He plays with great efficiency. And he is our hardest worker. It's hard to -- when you've got a team of really hard workers, it's hard to separate one. It really is. Because Johni's one of our hardest workers. The guys that get a lot of shots are in the gym getting shots all the time. Chaney's Chaney.”

Johnson will aim to help the Tigers overcome Houston on Saturday evening. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. CT and SEC Network will carry the broadcast.