The Auburn basketball program has gotten off to a tepid start to the 2025 season, currently sitting at 7-3 following a demolition at the hands of the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday. The Tigers are ranked at number 20 in the nation, and seem to be a far cry from their Final Four heights of a year ago under first-year head coach Steven Pearl.
The Tigers' schedule has been a gauntlet up to this point in the year, and recently, Pearl had high praise for two of the three teams that his team has played so far this year.
“‘We've played the 2 best teams in college basketball. I think there's a pretty wide margin between Michigan, Arizona and the rest of college basketball,” said Pearl, per AZ Desert Swarm on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, Auburn has had to play against two powerhouses so far this year in Michigan and Arizona, and predictably lost both of those matchups.
The Tigers are in a bit of a transitional year in 2025, having lost head coach Bruce Pearl over the offseason. Now, Steven Pearl, Bruce's son, is Auburn basketball's new head coach, and he's still looking to establish the same rapport with his team that his father had for so many years.
Of course, Auburn also lost considerable talent over the offseason in the wake of their Final Four appearance a season ago, and is getting ready to embark on an SEC schedule that seems to get more and more difficult year after year.
In any case, Auburn will next take the floor next weekend at home against Chattanooga.
