Auburn will put its extended homecourt dominance on the line when it hosts No. 12 Arizona on Friday night in nonconference play.
The Tigers (2-0) have won 69 consecutive games at Neville Arena against nonconference opponents, the longest active streak in the nation. Their last home loss to a non-Southeastern Conference team came against Oklahoma State on Jan. 30, 2016, and they also hold Division I’s longest active winning streak (at seven games) thanks to winning the NIT last season.
Auburn defeated Southeastern Louisiana and Appalachian State easily to start this season, but now comes a major uptick in competition. Arizona (2-1) will be the highest-ranked nonleague foe to play at Auburn since 2006.
The visiting Wildcats are coming off consecutive lopsided home wins over Cal Poly and Northern Arizona after losing on opening night to UCLA in Las Vegas. That was Arizona’s first season-opening loss since 2006, which caused Tommy Lloyd’s team to drop out of the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since the start of last season.
Arizona has two starters back from last year’s Final Four team in center Motiejus Krivas and wing Ivan Kharchenkov, who together are averaging 42.7 points and 17.0 rebounds with each logging a 30-point game. It’s the rest of the roster that is still coming together.
“I thought there was a lot of progress,” Lloyd said after a 90-59 win over Northern Arizona on Tuesday. “Just keep growing day to day. I think the most important thing in a season is understanding that the season’s a continuum and, while you’re in that continuum, you gotta make progress.”
Freshman Caleb Holt has averaged 15 points in his first three college games, while North Carolina transfer Derek Dixon is scoring 13 per game.
Auburn had 10 players average at least 12.5 minutes in the first two games, something coach Steven Pearl says he plans to continue doing.
“It’s crucial for us to be able to really buy into the depth that we have,” said Pearl, in his second season in charge of the program after being an assistant for his father, Bruce Pearl, for eight years.
“Guys coming in and having had a four-minute break, it makes a huge difference and it’s going to allow us to hopefully wear down a team over a 40-minute game. Our depth’s gotta be our calling card. I feel confident in all 10 of these guys.”
The Tigers’ scoring isn’t as balanced, though, as guard Tahaad Pettiford has averaged 22 points and guard Kolby King (10.5 ppg) is the only other player in double figures. Center Narcisse Ngoy contributes 8.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
Arizona has logged 25 steals in its last two games, and last time out had 26 assists against just six turnovers. Auburn has shot 40% from 3-point range to start the season.
Lloyd, in his sixth season at Arizona, recently reached 150 career victories. That includes nonconference road wins in seasons past at Duke, Illinois and UConn. Last year, his Wildcats crushed Pearl’s Tigers 97-68 in Tucson, Ariz.