Auburn Basketball announces season-opening game vs. Baylor in Sioux Falls

Another marquee season-opener is on the docket for the college hoops season. On Thursday afternoon, Auburn Basketball announced that they’ll be squaring off against the Baylor Bears on Nov. 7 in Sioux Falls in the Sanford Pentagon. Here was the news, as broken by the official Auburn athletics website:

“Auburn will face Baylor in a neutral, non-conference matchup to officially tip-off the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.”

What a terrific event to kick off the season for both of these programs. Baylor will likely be the favorite but these are two clubs that ought to expect an NCAA Tournament program next March. For the Bears, the recent addition of MAC Player of the Year RayJ Dennis, who will slide right into the patented Star Transfer Point Guard role for Scott Drew, who won’t have Adam Flagler or Davion Mitchell leading the offense for the first time in five years. Now, he has another stud import ready to take over the reins.

The rest of the roster isn’t too shabby, either. Forward Jalen Bridges is back and expected to take a senior leap, along with a host of other returning pieces and another elite freshman recruiting class — which fast became an annual part of Drew’s roster building strategy following the ’21 title.

As for Auburn, they return their best three front-court players — headlined by likely lead scorer and ace rim protector Johni Broome — and are simply going to outmatch the Bears down low. However, the Tigers are really light on wings and banking on a D-II transfer to come through at the three. But, they have good backcourt transfers, like Baylor, and have enough down low to make this a real battle. Can anybody wait for Nov. 7?

Bruce Pearl was even quoted in the piece, noting the awesome opportunity the Tigers have to play a top program (as of late) and a recent national champion. Oh, and it’ll almost certainly be a Quad 1 game, which are the most valuable wins a college hoops team can get.

“What a great opportunity to play a perennial Top 10 program with a great coach like Scott Drew,” Pearl said. “Our guys came to Auburn and the SEC, to play against the very best. We will get to see right away where we are as a team. A marquee matchup like this, playing a guaranteed Quad 1 opponent, will help us build our potential tournament resume and get us prepared for league play.”