Auburn basketball has the opportunity… to be in the national spotlight when it takes on Oklahoma tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT on the CBS Sports Network. Coming off a buzzer-beating winning shot from T.J. Dunans, the Tigers narrowly escaped an upset against a less-than-stellar Mercer team — one that is drastically worse than the one that beat Duke just a few years ago in the NCAA Tournament.
One reason for Auburn’s struggles came from a poor shooting performance from Danjel Purifoy on Sunday, as he shot a measly 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. The Tigers need Purifoy to rebound in a big way tonight against the Sooners.
An underrated player in one of the most crucial roles of the game was TJ Lang. The junior guard was filling the shoes of suspended starter, Bryce Brown, who was arrested last week on a misdemeanor marijuana charge. Lang had a strong first half, as he kept an otherwise poor-shooting Auburn team within reach, hitting a strong 3 of 5 from three.
Brown’s suspension was lifted this week, so it will be interesting to see which player cracks the starting five. Bruce Pearl stated that the returning players, Brown and Horace Spencer, would need to “work their way back now”, so if Lang continues to play at a high level, he might just be a permanent replacement in the lineup.
Mustapha Heron, once again, played like an absolute monster — offensively and defensively. Heron scored 21 points while shooting an efficient 7-for-12 from the field, and 2-for-4 from three-range. The freshman also came up big defensively late in the game, as he forced a travel with just over a minute to go. If Heron and Purifoy can find a way to both shoot efficiently, this team has the capability to turn a few heads during conference play.
Fans need to remember… that Austin Wiley stepped on campus just a week ago, and was able to practice just twice with the team before Sunday’s game. Now considering the fact that he was still in high school just a few weeks ago, the freshman center looked pretty strong and comfortable in his role on Sunday against Mercer.
However, it’s no secret how high the expectations are for Wiley and his future career at Auburn, but it’s important for fans to temper those expectations, at least for now, to give the 17-year old time to adjust to the next level.
A huge positive is that he will have big game experience against two high-quality programs against Oklahoma and UConn this week. This will be a tough, but beneficial test for the freshman before conference play starts up next Thursday.
Auburn has yet to sell out its Sugar Bowl ticket allotment… and I think there’s a good reason as to why. The Sugar Bowl allots 15,000 tickets to each participating school, and Auburn still has 2,700 tickets remaining of that allotment.
Now, the Sugar Bowl is notorious for sticking the majority the participating teams’ fans in the nose bleeds of the upper deck. Here’s a good diagram to show the allotment split.
So why would Auburn fans pay full price ($150 each through the university ticket office) when you can go on Stubhub or any other secondary market ticket service to find better seats for cheaper? Right now, you can get a lower level seat on Stubhub for $130 after fees, which is $20 less than the upper deck seats you can buy through the university.
It’s simply a matter of supply and demand, and the face value price for the game greatly overestimates the demand for a matchup with no playoff implications.
The post Morning Musings: Expectations appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.
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