AUBURN, Ala. – In the 2016-17 season, Auburn went 18-14 and finished 7-11 in SEC play. In the three years that followed, the Tigers won 25 or more games each season.
But it was that 2016-17 team who laid the foundation for the future. They were young and inexperienced, but head coach Bruce Pearl let them grow together. And those freshmen on that team – Jared Harper, Austin Wiley, Mustapha Heron, Anfernee McLemore – they took Auburn to heights the program had never reached.
It's not all that different this season. The team is made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores, and like he did four years ago, Pearl is letting them grow together.
"The focus has been simply to give this group an opportunity to play," Pearl said. "I could've brought in three or four grad transfers instead of some other freshmen, but I gave these guys an opportunity to play and stay together and grow. It's just what we did when we had Jared and we had Mustapha and we had Austin and we had Anfernee.
"Our goals now are to see if we can't start winning some games and playing better basketball."
The Tigers (6-6, 0-4) will be looking for their first SEC win when they travel to Georgia on Wednesday, but with the return of Sharife Cooper to the lineup, this is a different Auburn team than the one that played the first 11 games. Cooper made his Auburn debut Saturday and finished with 26 points and nine assists.
"I've got my group back," Pearl said. "I'd like to get Justin (Powell) back, and I'd like to get this team – the 11 guys that we've got left – playing together and see how good we can get, see how much we can learn, and understand what we've got to do to be a championship program."
Powell, who has missed the last three games due to a head injury, remains day to day. Before the injury, he was second on the team in scoring and led the team in both rebounds and assists.
Auburn and Georgia will tip off at 6 p.m. CT from Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia. Andy Burcham and Sonny Smith will have the radio call on 93.9 Tiger FM, online at AuburnTigers.com and on the TuneIn app. The game will also be televised on SEC Network with Roy Philpott and Mark Wise on the call.
Player to Watch: JT Thor
JT Thor is coming off his best game in his young career after posting 15 points, nine rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists vs. Alabama last Saturday. Over his last three games, Thor is averaging 11.3 points on 50 percent from the floor (12 of 24) and 6.3 boards per contest. The Alaska native has reached double figures five times on the season.
Inside the Series: Georgia
Auburn and Georgia will meet for the 192nd time Wednesday night. The Bulldogs are the most common opponent in the 114-year history of Auburn basketball. The Tigers hold a slight edge in the series at 96-95.
Georgia leads the series, 63-25, in games played at home, but Auburn has won two of the last three at Stegeman Coliseum. The Tigers will aim to win three of four at Georgia for the first time since they won five in a row from 1976-1980.
Last season, the two teams split the annual home-and-home series with each holding serve on their home courts. The Tigers won 82-60 inside Auburn Arena behind a team-best 17 points from Samir Doughty while J'Von McCormick's 22 points weren't enough on the road as Auburn, playing without Isaac Okoro, fell to the Bulldogs, 65-55.
Head coach Bruce Pearl is 17-8 against Georgia as a head coach, including a 7-5 mark at Auburn, 10-2 at Tennessee and 0-1 at Milwaukee.
Plucked from the Peach State
Auburn has four players from the state of Georgia on its roster in Babatunde Akingbola, Dylan Cardwell, Sharife Cooper and Jaylin Williams. JT Thor also finished his prep career at Norcross High School but claims Anchorage, Alaska as his hometown.
In total, the Tigers have signed 11 players from the Peach State under Bruce Pearl. According to ESPN.com's rankings, Auburn has signed a total of six top-100 players from the state of Georgia including Cooper (19), Isaac Okoro (40), Chuma Okeke (50) and Jabari Smith, who is a consensus top-five player in the 2021 class.
Auburn has signed at least one player from Georgia in every recruiting class under Pearl, including one of the greatest backcourts in program history in Bryce Brown and Jared Harper.
Leading by Example
As one of just two upperclassmen on the roster, junior Jamal Johnson has stepped up and provided a spark off the bench for the Tigers this season.
Johnson is currently 15th in the SEC in scoring at 15.5 points per game in league action. He produced back-to-back 20-point outings with a career-best 21 vs. Arkansas and 20 at Texas A&M and became the first Auburn player to have consecutive 20-point games off the bench since Rasheem Barrett did it during the 2005-06 season.
Last week against Ole Miss, Johnson earned his first start as an Auburn Tiger and his first start since March 10, 2018 when he played Cincinnati in the AAC Tournament semifinals as a member of the Memphis Tigers.
Tigers trek to Georgia with goal of ‘playing better’
