The last time an Auburn basketball team started a season 10-2, Marquis Daniels was the star. Cliff Ellis was the coach. The Tigers didn't have the longest drought in the SEC in both the NCAA Tournament and the NBA Draft.
The last time an Auburn basketball team won 10 of its first 12 games, its last game was a one-point loss in the 2003 Sweet 16 to eventual national champion Syracuse and freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony.
It's been that long.
This little skip down memory lane is brought to you by the latest Auburn basketball team, which stands 10-2 as it prepares to open SEC play Thursday night against Georgia in the Auburn Arena.
These Tigers aren't ranked in the polls, they're nowhere to be found in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi's latest projections and they haven't done enough yet to steal the spotlight from Jarrett Stidham's arrival, but make no mistake.
Something good is happening at Auburn in a sport that's been overshadowed there for far too long. Bruce Pearl is starting to deliver on the promise he brought to the Plains 2 1/2 years ago, and he's doing it with the youngest team he's ever coached.
Jared Harper fuels Auburn basketball to OT win over UConn
Auburn had been waiting for Jared Harper to put together back-to-back big game performances.
Four freshmen started last week's notable wins over Oklahoma and Connecticut, and one of them, 17-year-old center, mid-year enrollee and Auburn double legacy Austin Wiley, hasn't taken a college class yet.
Wiley has increased his minutes from 15 to 18 to 20 in his three games. Freshman wing Mustapha Heron and redshirt freshman forward Danjel Purifoy are 1-2 on the team in scoring and rebounding. Heron has scored in double figures in his first 12 college games, the longest streak for an Auburn newcomer since Wesley Person did it in 14 straight games in 1990-91. Purifoy had 15 rebounds against Connecticut and hit the game-tying 3-pointer late in overtime.
Freshman point Jared Harper leads the team in assists and steals, and he was named SEC freshman of the week after taking over both the Oklahoma and UConn games down the stretch. He matched his career high with 21 points against the Sooners and set a new best with 22 against the Huskies.
Auburn's top moments of 2016: First 5-star prospects in program history enroll
Bruce Pearl's third recruiting class at Auburn is considered the best in program history for two reasons: Mustapha Heron and Austin Wiley.
The youth of those key contributors aside, the best part of the program's best start in 14 years has been the ability to win close games against good programs without playing 1985 Villanova over Georgetown perfect.
Senior Swiss Army knife T.J. Dunans hit a game-winning trey to beat Mercer, then followed that with a career-high 21 points on his birthday in the 74-70 win over Oklahoma as Auburn held off a late Sooner rally. The Tigers squandered a late six-point lead at UConn and found themselves in overtime, only to score the final six points of the extra period to win 70-67.
Dunans, Heron, Harper lead Auburn basketball past Oklahoma
In the first game of Mustapha Heron's homecoming trip, the true freshman helped ensure Auburn's trip to the Nutmeg state started with success.
For the season, the Tigers are 5-1 in games decided by four points or less. Their 10-2 overall mark ties them with Kentucky for the second-best record in the SEC, just behind 11-1 Arkansas. They've handled the two-game suspensions given to former starters Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer for their Dec. 14 misdemeanor marijuana arrests by not losing a game since.
It's heady stuff for one of the younger teams in the country, and there's still plenty of room to grow. Auburn still hasn't put together a winning overall and SEC season since 2009, which is the last time the program reached the NIT. The Tigers haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003, and they haven't had a single player drafted since Jamison Brewer in the second round in 2001.
This team can't be expected to make up for all that lost time, but over the next two months, it should be expected to contend for a postseason berth for the first time under Pearl.
It's obvious already there's something different about this Auburn basketball team. It's worth watching and discussing even before the football team plays its bowl game.
The last time an Auburn basketball team won 10 of its first 12 games, its last game was a one-point loss in the 2003 Sweet 16 to eventual national champion Syracuse and freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony.
It's been that long.
This little skip down memory lane is brought to you by the latest Auburn basketball team, which stands 10-2 as it prepares to open SEC play Thursday night against Georgia in the Auburn Arena.
These Tigers aren't ranked in the polls, they're nowhere to be found in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi's latest projections and they haven't done enough yet to steal the spotlight from Jarrett Stidham's arrival, but make no mistake.
Something good is happening at Auburn in a sport that's been overshadowed there for far too long. Bruce Pearl is starting to deliver on the promise he brought to the Plains 2 1/2 years ago, and he's doing it with the youngest team he's ever coached.
Jared Harper fuels Auburn basketball to OT win over UConn
Auburn had been waiting for Jared Harper to put together back-to-back big game performances.
Four freshmen started last week's notable wins over Oklahoma and Connecticut, and one of them, 17-year-old center, mid-year enrollee and Auburn double legacy Austin Wiley, hasn't taken a college class yet.
Wiley has increased his minutes from 15 to 18 to 20 in his three games. Freshman wing Mustapha Heron and redshirt freshman forward Danjel Purifoy are 1-2 on the team in scoring and rebounding. Heron has scored in double figures in his first 12 college games, the longest streak for an Auburn newcomer since Wesley Person did it in 14 straight games in 1990-91. Purifoy had 15 rebounds against Connecticut and hit the game-tying 3-pointer late in overtime.
Freshman point Jared Harper leads the team in assists and steals, and he was named SEC freshman of the week after taking over both the Oklahoma and UConn games down the stretch. He matched his career high with 21 points against the Sooners and set a new best with 22 against the Huskies.
Auburn's top moments of 2016: First 5-star prospects in program history enroll
Bruce Pearl's third recruiting class at Auburn is considered the best in program history for two reasons: Mustapha Heron and Austin Wiley.
The youth of those key contributors aside, the best part of the program's best start in 14 years has been the ability to win close games against good programs without playing 1985 Villanova over Georgetown perfect.
Senior Swiss Army knife T.J. Dunans hit a game-winning trey to beat Mercer, then followed that with a career-high 21 points on his birthday in the 74-70 win over Oklahoma as Auburn held off a late Sooner rally. The Tigers squandered a late six-point lead at UConn and found themselves in overtime, only to score the final six points of the extra period to win 70-67.
Dunans, Heron, Harper lead Auburn basketball past Oklahoma
In the first game of Mustapha Heron's homecoming trip, the true freshman helped ensure Auburn's trip to the Nutmeg state started with success.
For the season, the Tigers are 5-1 in games decided by four points or less. Their 10-2 overall mark ties them with Kentucky for the second-best record in the SEC, just behind 11-1 Arkansas. They've handled the two-game suspensions given to former starters Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer for their Dec. 14 misdemeanor marijuana arrests by not losing a game since.
It's heady stuff for one of the younger teams in the country, and there's still plenty of room to grow. Auburn still hasn't put together a winning overall and SEC season since 2009, which is the last time the program reached the NIT. The Tigers haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003, and they haven't had a single player drafted since Jamison Brewer in the second round in 2001.
This team can't be expected to make up for all that lost time, but over the next two months, it should be expected to contend for a postseason berth for the first time under Pearl.
It's obvious already there's something different about this Auburn basketball team. It's worth watching and discussing even before the football team plays its bowl game.
