Auburn Basketball Preview

Coming off a Final Four run, what can we expect for the 2025-2026 Auburn Basketball season?

As everyone knows, Bruce Pearl has retired from coaching the Auburn Tigers. He spent 11 very successful years as a Tiger, taking us to two Final Four appearances. Pearl went 246-125 during his tenure at Auburn before eventually passing the keys to the program to his son, Steven Pearl. Steven has spent 11 years alongside his father and was named associate head coach the past two years.

Tahaad Pettiford Is Back

The 2024–25 Auburn Tigers earned the number one overall seed in last year’s NCAA March Madness; however, there are not many familiar faces returning. The only Auburn player coming back who played more than 5% of the team’s minutes is point guard Tahaad Pettiford. A New Jersey native, Pettiford gained a strong following in high school. He took the college basketball world by storm when he led Auburn to a huge win in Houston, Texas, coming off the bench to score 21 points, including five three-pointers. Pettiford continued to shine with standout performances against Duke, Georgia, and Kentucky, and eventually dominated in the tournament. Projected as a first-round pick, Pettiford decided to return for another year at Auburn.

New Faces On Campus

The 2025–26 Auburn roster looks much different than it did just a year ago. Without SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome, Auburn is missing a major part of its core. Other key departures include Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Chaney Johnson, Dylan Cardwell, and Chad Baker-Mazara.

Auburn isn’t lacking in talent, though, with the addition of Mississippi State transfer Keshawn Murphy—a forward who isn’t afraid to attack the boards. Another key transfer is UCF’s big guard, Keyshawn Hall. At 6'7" and 235 pounds, Hall was the Big 12's leading scorer last season and is expected to make an immediate impact on campus.

Other notable additions who are expected to contribute include Texas Tech transfer Kevin Overton, Filip Jovic, Elyjah Freeman, Kaden Magwood, and Sebastian Williams-Adams. Lastly, NJCAA transfer Abdul Bashir joins the roster after averaging 27 points last season in his second year at Casper College. Whether coming off the bench or stepping into a starting role, Bashir looks to be an explosive piece of this Auburn team.

Difficult Non-Conference Schedule

Auburn faces a tough non-conference schedule once again this year. The Tigers went 12–1 in non-conference play last season, despite a very challenging slate. One of the marquee matchups this season is a showdown with Houston on November 16th in Birmingham, AL. Auburn got the best of Houston last year and will look to do it again. The Tigers will also travel to Las Vegas to compete in the “Players Era” tournament, where they’ll face Oregon and Michigan. Other notable non-conference games include a road game at Arizona, a neutral-site matchup against Purdue, and a home game against NC State in Neville Arena as part of the ACC/SEC Showdown.

Be Well, Auburn.