Auburn basketball announces special preseason tour

The Auburn basketball team is heading to another continent this offseason for a special preseason tour. According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, the Tigers will take a trip to Israel from July 31 until Aug. 10.

Auburn will play three games over the course of 10 days in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It will face the Israeli U-20 National Team twice on Aug. 2 and 6 as well as the Israeli Senior National Team on Aug. 8.

The NCAA allows teams to make an international trip once every four years. The Auburn basketball team previously traveled to Italy in the summer of 2017 for a preseason tour, and coach Bruce Pearl said in a statement that he is looking forward to the learning opportunities for his team, both on and off the court.

“Every four years, you can take a foreign trip with your team,” Pearl said. “These foreign trips have been one of the greatest teaching moments I have been a part of in 40 years of coaching college basketball. Israel has not been your typical destination for college basketball teams. Yet, Israel, is one of the top 2-3 countries in the world in its quality of competition and support for professional basketball.
 
“Aside from basketball, this is an educational experience for our players. We are going to take them to where Jesus was born in Bethlehem and visit the City of David in Jerusalem. From a historical and religious standpoint, this is going to be one of the greatest trips in our student-athletes’ lives. I am grateful to Auburn for its continued support of our foreign trips over the years and helping with our ministry.”

Auburn is coming off of one of its best seasons in school history, finishing 28-6 this past year. That earned the Tigers a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they ultimately saw their season cut short in the second round against Miami. They are set to lose key contributors Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler to the NBA Draft, but brought in the No. 16 overall recruiting class according to On3’s Consensus Team Rankings. That includes center Yohan Traore, the No. 20 overall prospect.