How Good is Auburn Basketball: 'We’re Going to find out Real Quick'

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl has challenged his team with one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation.

Auburn Tigers basketball coach Bruce Pearl is beginning his 11th season at Auburn. / Photo by Zach Bland, Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers are not far from tipping-off the 2024-25 campaign. Auburn officially opens the season against Vermont inside Neville Arena on Nov. 6. Game time and broadcast information are TBA.

After falling to the Yale Bulldogs in upset fashion in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, head coach Bruce Pearl and company have been looking forward to flipping the page.

Auburn is playing one of the hardest schedules in college basketball this season, a challenge it believes it can handle. They're ranked No. 11 in ESPN's Way Too Early College Basketball Poll.

Pearl believes Auburn’s culture goes into the team’s ability to take on some of the nation’s best programs.

“I like my kids and I like the culture in our program,” Pearl said. “I like how hard they’ve trained so I do feel like we’re prepared. We’re going to find out real quick how good we are or how much work we got to do.”

Pearl put together a difficult schedule in an attempt to keep Auburn relevant in a league that keeps getting better.

“It’s a lot easier to get there than to stay there,” Pearl said. “There are a lot of things that we aren’t in control of, but we can control our non-conference schedule. The fact that Auburn is an attractive game to Houston, an established program, is something I've worked for.”

Pearl has lofty goals for his team this season, something that has become commonplace for the Tigers.

“We would love to try and compete for the SEC Championship again this season,” Pearl said. “That would be our goal. We know we’re going to be one of probably six or seven teams in our league that’s got a chance to win this league championship.”

In a day and age where coaches constantly have to deal with players transferring, Pearl has been able to keep his rosters relatively intact.

“The kids love Auburn,” Pearl said. “The way our fans treat our student athletes, the way our fans travel and watch us play every game on the road. We sell out every home game.”

Click here to view Auburn’s complete 2024-25 schedule.