AUBURN — The College GameDay bus was parked at Toomer’s Corner on Thursday. One of the SEC’s best teams will arrive in town Friday. Tickets to get into Saturday’s showcase game between two ranked opponents cost more than $180 on the secondary market, and that’s just for standing room only.
That would be pretty normal for Auburn during most weekends in the fall. But football season is still seven months away. It’s the last day in January — the heart of conference basketball season.
Imagine thinking this day would come 10 years ago.
Let’s talk about No. 16 Auburn’s showdown with No. 13 Kentucky on the hardwood, what recruits football can expect to add on National Signing Day next Wednesday, and what to expect from the baseball team this season in this week’s Mailbag.
As always, you can submit your questions on Twitter. I will answer the best ones most Fridays.
Here we go:
With the challenges Auburn has on the road, any chance of convincing someone that Auburn Arena is the best place to host postseason play? For everybody?
— Chris (@502liles)
It wouldn’t hurt to ask someone, would it? Auburn is 41-3 at home since the start of the 2017-18 season, compared to 15-12 on the road. This is probably true of most teams, but the Tigers just look much, much more comfortable when they get to play in their home gym in front of a fan base that has turned Auburn Arena into a great atmosphere for college basketball.
(Quick aside: Auburn fans, you have got to stop waiting for Bruce Pearl to wave his arms or a dunk to get thrown down or a referee to make a call you don’t like before you get loud. There are still too many quiet moments in that gym, especially early in games. You should be making noise, chanting or doing something from the opening tip to the final buzzer.)
The Tigers haven’t looked the same on the road, though. Particularly since the start of SEC play — they shot just 16.7% in the first 10 minutes at Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida and Ole Miss, trailing by as many as nine, 14, eight and 18 points in the first halves of those games, respectively. There is some good news, though. One, Auburn won two of those games. Two, it has only five true road games remaining. If it goes even 2-3 in those games, and can continue to play as well as it has at home, it will be in position to somewhere around 12-6 in SEC play. That would be a 25-6 regular season, which is three games better than last season. And three, while the SEC and NCAA tournaments aren’t at home, they aren’t on the road, either — the Tigers are 18-5 in neutral-site games over the past three seasons after winning eight straight during its postseason run last year and four so far this season.
Jamal Johnson and Turbo Jones need to get point guard minutes.
— @AuburnedYou
This has been a popular take since Tuesday, when J’Von McCormick finished with just two assists compared to nine turnovers. Together, he and Samir Doughty — who are splitting all of the minutes at point guard for Auburn — have more turnovers (39) than assists (37) through seven SEC games. The Tigers are 5-2 in those games, but that’s not exactly a winning recipe. To compare: Jared Harper had 41 assists and 18 turnovers through seven SEC games last season.
But I don’t think Johnson and Tyrell Jones are the answer. Johnson really hasn’t been a point guard in college. He averaged one assist and one turnover per game at Memphis in 2017-18. This season, he has 11 assists and 11 turnovers in 20 games. He is also averaging just 4.8 points in 13.2 minutes per game. Jones is more of a point guard, and Pearl did want him to be a part of the rotation at the start of this season, but it didn’t click. The true freshman hasn’t played any meaningful minutes since Nov. 18 against Colgate and has appeared in only six of the team’s last 15 games. You have to consider that there is a reason he doesn’t play more.
What Auburn really needs is for McCormick and Doughty to take care of the ball better. Struggles or not, they’re two of the five best players on the team. Doughty is the team’s leading scorer. The Tigers would not be 18-2 without them. But they’re not going to beat Ashton Hagans and Kentucky with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.
After all this time, why does Austin Wiley still have bad hands, and why don’t Auburn’s guards know how to throw an entry pass?
— @gameday_south
Wiley’s hands fascinate me. He’s 6-foot-11 and 260 pounds of pure muscle (pretty sure each of his shoulders are larger than my head), but there seem to be moments every single game where he just struggles to catch the ball, whether it be on a rebound or on a pass inside. I think opponents know it and attack that — his 17.9% turnover rate is only slight lower than McCormick’s and Doughty’s, and he handles the ball far less.
But Auburn does certainly need to figure out how to get the ball to him more effectively. Wiley leads the team’s regulars in field goal percentage (56.6%), and his hit more than 70% of a team-high 115 free throws, but he ranks fifth among the team’s starters in field goal attempts. Danjel Purifoy, who ranks fourth, has taken 47 more shots. McCormick has taken 94 more, and Doughty 114 more. All three players are shooting worst than 40% on the season.
How big of an impact is Anfernee McLemore making? I feel like he’s Auburn's most consistent player.
— Andrew (@AndrewWagnon)
McLemore is making a huge impact. Auburn’s bench has scored 419 points this season, or 26.4% of the team’s total. McLemore has scored 159 of those, or nearly 40%, by himself. The tandem he and Wiley create at center is a matchup nightmare. They’re equally good on defense, but completely different on offense — the starter is a 6-foot-11, back-to-the-basket post presence, and his backup a 6-foot-7 stretch five. And after attempting only one 3-pointer as a freshman, he has grown into maybe the most confident shooter on this year’s team, making 36.5% (second) of 63 attempts (fourth). Pearl said Thursday that McLemore is making a strong case for SEC Sixth Man of the Year, and it’s hard to argue with him.
Bruce said he was considering making some adjustments to the starting five. Who would you start and why?
— Max (@Max_Jackson2)
Pearl did consider making some adjustments to his starting five after the slow start against Ole Miss on Tuesday, but he’s not going to. “I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” the head coach said Thursday. Which does make sense. Outside of replacing Wiley or Purifoy or McLemore, there really isn’t an obvious change to make.
But, since you asked, I would try something radical. I’d replace Purifoy and Wiley with Devan Cambridge and McLemore and try to open the game at a breakneck pace in order to get some rhythm and some confidence. Plenty of teams would have more size than that lineup, but there aren’t many that could out-athlete McCormick-Doughty-Isaac Okoro-Cambridge-McLemore. Of course, there’s a reason no one is asking me make these decisions — Pearl, his coaching staff, his players and even his managers are much smarter than me.
With National Signing Day coming up next week, how many new signees can we expect to join?
— @bignizo
So far, two: Four-star JUCO defensive end Deandre Butler, who committed on Sunday, and four-star high school tight end Brandon Frazier, who committed Thursday. That would put Auburn at the 25-man limit in the 2020 class after signing 23 players in December, but some of those players could be back-counted to past classes. Overall, the Tigers would be at 84 scholarships if they sign those players, by my count. That leaves one more open spot before the 85-man limit.
The person Auburn would like to fill that spot is obviously five-star Lithonia, Georgia, offensive tackle Broderick Jones. He’s been committed to Georgia since April 2018, but he will take his final official visit to the Plains this weekend, so there is at least a chance of a flip. If he sticks with the Bulldogs, some other names to watch to fill out that last spot include three-star JUCO defensive tackle Marquis Burks and three-star JUCO cornerback Alfahiym Walcott. But it’s possible the Tigers could sign more than one of those players, depending on how the numbers shake out.
Best guess on starting five offensive linemen in 2020? Also, a prediction: Regardless of who you pick, I think the OL will outperform the group from 2019.
— Danny (@Danny_Bobrowski)
I have actually thought that same thing since the end of last season. I never would have predicted that last August, but at this point, I just think Auburn will benefit from there being a change up front. Prince Tega Wanogho, Marquel Harrell and Jack Driscoll, in particular, were very good players for the Tigers individually, but together, that five-man group just never seemed to click.
MORE: Who are the next men up on Auburn’s rebuilding offensive line?
My early pick for next season is Austin Troxell at left tackle, Tashawn Manning at left guard, Nick Brahms at center, Jalil Irvin and right guard and Brodarious Hamm at right tackle. There might be a slight drop-off in pass protection from that group, at least initially (last year’s unit was actually quite good in that area), but I think it could provide an upgrade in run blocking immediately. The wild cards are Jones and JUCO additions Kilian Zierer and Brenden Coffey. Troxell and Hamm are also capable of moving inside and playing guard, so if the former signs or the latter two can impress when they arrive this summer, they could create competition at those tackle spots.
Are Seth Williams and Matthew Hill going to be able to be on the field together this year? Bo Nix needs his best receivers to reach his potential.
— John (@elcarg)
I’m really curious to see what happens with Hill this season. We know Williams is going to be a dude for Auburn — I wrote Thursday that he’s on track to be the third 1,000-yard receiver in program history. We know what Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove are capable of at that flanker spot (though it would be good to see both get more touches). Shedrick Jackson playing a lot of the snaps that the now-departed Sal Cannella did makes sense, as the Tigers love his blocking ability.
Hill has not really been a part of that mix yet. He’s going to be a redshirt sophomore next season, but so far, he has caught just eight passes for 46 yards and carried four times for 30 yards in 17 career games. The coaching staff lauded him for his special teams ability last season, but his snaps on offense were very limited. Maybe this will be there year, though. Because Hill is an incredibly talented athlete. He’s a 6-foot-1, 190-pound former four-star recruit who caught 52 passes for 879 yards and seven scores; carried 76 times or 695 yards and four scores; and had 349 punt return yards. I’d love to see him take over the slot spot Will Hastings used to play in four-wide sets and see what he can do. Because John is right — the more capable targets Auburn can surround Nix with, the better he’ll be.
What are your predictions on baseball this year? Do you have a potential starting lineup?
— @drinklocalbham
I’m on record as saying I think basketball will have a really hard time repeating last year’s run to the Final Four, just because the NCAA Tournament is so incredibly difficult predict (so much of who advances is determined by matchups and which teams are healthiest/hottest at the right time). I think baseball, on the other hand, has a real shot to go shot to go back to the College World Series this season. I think this might be the year it hosts at least an NCAA Regional at Plainsman Park on the way, too. Butch Thompson’s team returns seven of nine starters in the field, its top two starting pitchers and a standout closer. The Tigers are also very high on some of the pieces they added in the offseason. If pitchers such as Bailey Horn and Richard Fitts can go from fringe contributors to truly reliable, there won’t be many teams in the country that are much deeper.
Here’s my prediction for the opening day lineup against Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 14:
- Judd Ward — LF
- Ryan Bliss — SS
- Conor Davis — 1B
- Steven Williams — RF
- Rankin Woley — 3B
- Johnny Ceccoli OR Ryan Dyal OR Nate LaRue — DH
- Garrett Farquhar — 2B
- Matt Scheffler — C
- Kason Howell — CF
- SP: Tanner Burns. CL: Cody Greenhill.
Josh Vitale is the Auburn beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can follow him on Twitter at @JoshVitale. To reach him by email, click here.
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