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Auburn big man Dylan Cardwell out for Tennessee game

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•03/04/23
Dylan Cardwell, Auburn Tigers forward
Auburn forward Dylan Cardwell raises his hands toward the sky during a game on Feb. 22, 2023. (Michael Chang / Getty Images)

Bad news on the Auburn hoops front. According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, the Tigers will be without big man Dylan Cardwell for today’s game against Tennessee. He reported the news this morning on Twitter:

“Source: Auburn’s Dylan Cardwell (ankle) is OUT for today’s game against Tennessee. Averages 3.7 PPG and 4 RPG.”

As evidenced by his averages, Cardwell is not a key cog for Bruce Pearl’s club, especially on offense. However, his rebounding, and more so, his rim protection, will be missed against the Volunteers. Against a physically imposing squad like UT, the extra big body down low would be nice to have. Instead, Auburn will need Johni Broome to stay out of foul trouble this time around. Meanwhile, if he sits, the Tigers are going to have to go small or young without a veteran center like Cardwell off the pine.

Otherwise, Auburn is pretty healthy, but at this time of year, you have to expect some injuries. On the other side, Tennessee just lost sophomore point guard Zakai Ziegler, arguably the team’s most important piece, for the year. So a couple of banged-up SEC clubs set to do battle in a home game that could solidify Auburn’s NCAA Tournament hopes.

For more info on the Cardwell injury, here was the initial report from a few days ago when he went down vs. Alabama.

Bruce Pearl says Dylan Cardwell injury vs. Alabama was a sprained ankle

Things went from bad to worse for Auburn basketball in the waning moments of an overtime loss to Alabama on Wednesday night, with a Dylan Cardwell injury adding to the postgame woes.

Cardwell was hurt when an Alabama player crashed into his lower legs and took him out without a foul call.

“He was. The decision to go small was we needed a bucket,” coach Bruce Pearl explained. “Our lack of size didn’t necessarily hurt us, but he sprained it pretty good. And he got hit, he didn’t just fall down.”

Cardwell went down clutching his ankle and would have to leave the game.

Dylan Cardwell’s injury left Auburn even shorter on potential bodies down the stretch as it desperately tried to hang on to beat in-state rival Alabama.

Ultimately Auburn came up short, and now Cardwell will have an ankle injury to tend to leading into the SEC Tournament next week.