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- Updated: Jan. 24, 2025, 4:21 p.m.
- Published: Jan. 24, 2025, 4:15 p.m.
Parked in front of Neville arena was a wrapped red bus that read ESPN College Gameday, as the countdown for No. 1 Auburn and No. 6 Tennesse is officially underway.
ESPN analyst and College Gameday hosts Seth Greenberg and Jay Bilas spoke with the media Friday afternoon breaking down this SEC showdown.
Greenberg opened things up by sharing what’s impressed him the most about the Tigers hot start this season.
“The roster construction and the retention of the right players are so important,” Greenberg said. “The most underappreciated part of recruiting is evaluation, and Auburn has hit that out of the park. To get eight to nine guys to buy into each other is hard in this era of college basketball.”
When Bilas was asked what he liked about Auburn, he simply said ‘everything’.
“I think in some past years when talking about Auburn it was the defense that was in the headline. But this is an extraordinary offensive team while also being dominant on defense,” Bilas said. “From an efficiency standpoint to have four guards that shoot the ball as consistent as they do is unique.”
“The numbers from Auburn’s offense are historically good. It’s been about 25 years since we saw an offense this efficient through 18 games.”
Auburn is ranked 10th in the country averaging 85.7 points per game. As a team, they are shooting 50.2% from the floor.
With the Tigers looking to repeat as conference champions, Greenberg expressed how Auburn should approach successfully completing the back-to-back feat.
“Continue to get better at what they do,” Greenberg said. “You are not reinventing yourself at the end of January. [Bruce Pearl] will always play around with some things in league play.”
“They can’t be seduced by the current success. Stay hungry, stay humble, be gritty, be grimy and remain consistent.”
Auburn’s matchup with Tennessee Saturday night is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. and will be streaming live on ESPN.
ESPN College Gameday show will run from 10-11 a.m. live from Neville arena.
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