Auburn Men’s Basketball adds Houston to their non-conference slate
Auburn Men's Basketball
The Auburn Men’s Basketball adds another top ten matchup to their non-conference slate for the 2024-25 season. The Tigers will take on Houston in Houston at the Toyota Center on November 9th. This is apart of a two year series with United Sports & Entertainment (@USportsEnt) which they are calling “The Battleground 2k hoops series.” Next year the game will come to Birmingham and be held in Legacy Arena and the date is still to be determined.
This year in game one Rice (American Athletic) will take on Florida State (ACC) before Auburn and Houston go head to head in game two.
According to the Way Too Early Top 25 preseason rankings, UH was picked No. 1 by CBS Sports and No. 2 by The Athletic, while Auburn was selected No. 8 and No. 10 by both media outlets respectively.
“Kelvin Sampson has returned the Houston Basketball program back to the days of greatness with Guy Lewis, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler,” head coach Bruce Pearl said. “His teams fight hard and are physical. They play the right way. With our SEC/ACC Challenge game at Duke and this game versus Houston at the Toyota Center, we will have two road contests against the preseason top two teams in the country. That’s never happened in Auburn Basketball history, so be careful of what you wish for.”
The last meeting between Auburn and Houston came in the 2023 NCAA Tournament in the second round in Birmingham. In that meeting Auburn fell to Houston 64-81. In the all-time series between the two schools Houston leads 7-1.
There will also be a charitable component to the series as the “Battleground 2k hoops series” is rooted in service, inspiring the participating student-athletes to use their talent, notoriety and influence to affect the lives of kids in the local community.
“We are very excited about The Battleground 2k college hoops series and the opportunity that this premier sports platform presents to combine great competition with community in both Houston and Birmingham,” USE President Rhossi Carron said. “Both events will focus on empowering and improving the lives of kids in those communities and helping the participating student-athletes develop their passion for giving back in a genuine way. We look forward to utilizing The Battleground 2k basketball platform to impact the lives of children in these great cities.”
This will be the first time that Auburn has played multiple top ten non-conference opponents since the 2020-21 season (No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 2 Baylor.) The Tigers have also never faced three or more top ten opponents during non-conference play in one season.
In addition to Houston, Auburn will also face consensus preseason No. 1 Duke in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., and preseason No. 6 and national runner-up Purdue on Saturday, Dec. 21, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
(Information from Auburn University)
