Welcome to your week in review, where we’ll discuss the latest happenings in Auburn athletics.
Transfer portal happenings
After a month-long period that saw over 30 players announce their intentions to depart from the Tigers’ football program (The Ugly), Auburn is now set to bring in some talent of its own.
Auburn is hosting a multitude of visits over the weekend, including the No. 7 quarterback in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings in Byrum Brown (The Good). Auburn is the clear-cut favorite to land Brown after he spent the previous three seasons with head coach Alex Golesh at USF, where he led all of college football in total offense this season with over 3,000 yards.
The Tigers landed their first portal commitment of the 15-day cycle when USF backup quarterback Locklan Hewlett committed on Saturday morning.
There will undoubtedly be a lump sum of commitments over the next week, so stay tuned for next week’s edition of Auburn Week in Review to see how Auburn fairs with its portal targets.
Five football Tigers earn All-Star game invites
Auburn seniors defensive end Keyron Crawford and offensive lineman Jeremiah Wright each accepted invitations to the Panini Senior Bowl, while senior defensive lineman Bobby Jamison-Travis is headed to the Hula Bowl, senior offensive lineman Dillon Wade was selected to the East-West Shrine Bowl, and senior tight end Brandon Frazier will compete in the Hula Bowl.
Auburn has had at least one player selected for the Senior Bowl since 1968.
Auburn basketball splits matchups against Queens, No. 23 Georgia
In its first week as an unranked squad in the last 41 weeks, Auburn basketball went 1-1 on the week against Queens and No. 23 Georgia.
On Monday, the Tigers dismantled Queens in their final nonconference matchup of the regular season. Elyjah Freeman tallied a Division I and Auburn career-high with 27 points on a perfect 4-for-4 outing from deep, with three other Tigers notching double figures: Kevin Overton (23), Keyshawn Hall (18), and Sebastian Williams-Adams (10).
Auburn held Queens, which ranked 26th nationally with 10.8 triples per game coming in, without a 3-pointer until the 7:30 mark in the second half. Nassir Mann was the only Royal to tally double figures with 13 as they finished just 2-of-15 from deep.
On Saturday, Auburn fell short in an overtime thriller to the Bulldogs, 104-100 (The Bad).
Auburn was led by Tahaad Pettiford with 25 points off the bench, but the Bulldogs’ guard tandem of Jeremiah Wilkinson and Marcus Mellinder was too much as they combined for 55 points.
The loss marked Auburn’s fifth of the season and the first loss in an SEC opener since the 2020-21 campaign.
Women’s basketball splits with Jackson State, Mississippi State
In its final nonconference game of the regular season, Auburn’s women’s squad defeated Jackson State 64-48 in Neville Arena.
Mya Petticord matched her season high with 21 points as Ja’Mia Harris and Sania Richardson each added 12 points to help Auburn improve to 7-1 at home.
With Auburn holding a 40-33 lead at the break, Auburn forced 11 turnovers in the third period after being outscored 21-18 in the second.
Despite being outrebounded 38-29 for the game, Auburn built a 17-point lead over the first five and a half minutes of the fourth stanza, where it didn’t allow a single Jackson State point, en route to its 11th win of the season.
The Lady Tigers were not as dominant on Thursday in their SEC opener against Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum, losing 75-53.
Kaitlyn Duhon was stellar on the defensive end, matching a career-high with seven steals to go along with 10 points, four rebounds, an assist, and a block. Harissoum Coulibaly led the Tigers with 14 points along with a pair of steals.
MSU led 14-7 after one quarter as Auburn struggled from the field early. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to as many as 15 late in the second, but Auburn finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to just nine at halftime, 32-23.
The fourth quarter, however, was all Bulldogs. An 11-point game with 8:30 to play turned into a 28-point lead as Mississippi State went on a 19-2 run over five-plus minutes to put the game out of reach.
We’ll be back next week to uncover the latest happenings across Auburn athletics in our weekly review. TG
