Auburn to play Final Four Oklahoma in Hall of Fame’s Birthday of Basketball
AUBURN, Ala. (auburntigers.com) – Auburn will play Oklahoma, a Final Four team this past season, in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Birthday of Basketball at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Dec. 21, 2016. It will be the first meeting between the Tigers and Sooners since the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
The Auburn-Oklahoma matchup is part of a doubleheader with Boston College –Fairfield on the 125th anniversary of the day the game of basketball was invented.
“My first reaction to being invited to play was is Auburn Basketball really being invited to play in the Hall of Fame Classic’s “Birthday of Basketball?” asked Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
“Really, are our players are going to get a chance to play against a Final Four team from last year? Am I going to get to coach against a Hall of Famer like Lon Kruger? And the answer is yes.”
Oklahoma went 29-8 overall and finished third in the Big 12 with a 12-6 record last year, losing to eventual national champion Villanova in the Final Four. The Tigers and Sooners were each in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic last season but did not play.
The series is tied 1-1 between the two teams with the No. 1 seed and eventual national runner-up Sooners defeating the Tigers in the 1988 NCAA Tournament second round in Atlanta in their most recent meeting 28 years ago. Auburn defeated Oklahoma 78-70 in 1978 Big Sun Tournament first round in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Pearl, a Boston native and 1982 Boston College graduate, and freshman Mustapha Heron, a native of Waterbury, Conn., 71 miles from Uncasville, Conn., are returning close to home.
It will be Auburn’s first game in Connecticut and Pearl’s second, with the first coming while coaching Tennessee against No. 8 UConn in Hartford on Jan. 22, 2011.
“Certainly going home back to New England will be exciting,” said Pearl. “Getting a chance to bring Mustapha Heron home. The Mohegan Sun is an hour east of Waterbury.”
Game times, television details and ticket information for the Birthday of Basketball Classic will be released at a later date.
Auburn is on its way to playing its third-straight loaded non-conference schedule under Pearl. The Tigers’ strength of schedule in 2014-15 was ranked 26th nationally and last year’s was 50th.
In just five announced games for the 2016-17 season, the Tigers have the possibility of playing three Big 12 teams and a team from both the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten.
Auburn will play in the 2016 Cancun Challenge Nov. 22-23 against Texas Tech and either No. 15/13 Purdue or Utah State. The Tigers will also play in the inaugural Under Armour “Reunion” in New York City’s Madison Square Garden against Boston College on Dec. 12 and play at TCU in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 28, 2017.
