Report: Auburn basketball home opener set for 2022-23 season

Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers have reportedly locked in their matchup for the 2022-23 home opener. Auburn, which finished 14th in the rankings last season, will open things up at home versus George Mason on Nov. 7, according to Jon Rothstein.

George Mason went 14-16 last season for a middle-of-the-pack finish in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The 2021-22 season ended earlier than the Tigers wanted, losing in the Round of 32 to Miami in the NCAA Tournament. Pearl has Auburn consistently in the mix, however, and have weapons returning in the backcourt like K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green Jr.

Also going down in November for the Tigers – the 15th annual Cancun Challenge. Auburn is in an eight-team field with Bradley, Liberty, Northwestern, Eastern Michigan, Purdue Fort Wayne, Southern Miss and Winthrop.

Auburn hosts Winthrop at Neville Arena on Nov. 15 for a midweek matchup. Then, the event shifts to Cancun. At the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya the following week, Auburn plays Bradley on Nov. 22 at 5 p.m. CT. 

Bruce Pearl reveals secret weapon for Auburn next season

Over the final few games of the season, Bruce Pearl was incredibly impressed with the growth he saw from third-year forward Jaylin Williams.

“Yeah, man, I’m excited to build it next year around Jaylin,” Pearl said. “We have been the winningest program in the SEC over the last five years. We’ve won three championships in five years. I take great pride in the consistency.”

In Auburn’s loss to Miami, Williams played 18 minutes and scored 12 points with four rebounds. He made five of his eight shots from the field and two of his three attempts from three-point range.

Williams saw limited playing time down the stretch as Walker Kessler and Dylan Cardwell held down the center position for Auburn. But in the loss to Miami, Williams saw some time at the five, sparking some serious optimism in Pearl heading into next season.

“Yeah, we just obviously, down like we were, we played — Jaylin wound up playing,” Pearl said. “When Walker got in foul trouble, we started rotating Jaylin at the five. Hadn’t do that much all year, and Jaylin played a lot of it last year. Obviously having the two of them on the floor was good.

“We didn’t do it so much this year because Dylan Cardwell and Walker were so good at the five and so consistent, there really wasn’t much need to, but we were down. So we needed to have them both out there on the floor a little bit. And just in the last five or six minutes Jaylin would have played so well that we just had him up there.”

On3’s Jonathan Wagner contributed to this report.