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Auburn basketball ranked No. 11 in latest AP poll

Justin Hokansonby:Justin Hokanson•12/05/22•

_JHokanson

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Chris Moore (Photo by Auburn Athletics)

AUBURN — The unbeaten Auburn basketball team is ranked No. 11 in the latest AP poll released on Monday.

The Tigers are one of 12 unbeaten teams in the nation. They were ranked 15th in last week’s poll.

Auburn’s schedule hasn’t been extremely tough, ranking 172nd nationally according to KenPom, but that will change this week. Bruce Pearl’s team plays a Quad I game against Memphis in Atlanta on Saturday, then after hosting Georgia State, plays two top-100 teams in USC and Washington on the road. It will be the first true road games of the season.

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Auburn is the fourth-highest ranked SEC team in this week’s poll. No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 Alabama and No. 9 Arkansas all ahead of the Tigers. Kentucky (16th) and Mississippi State (25th) round out the SEC teams ranked in the poll.

The Tigers’ calling card this season through eight games is defense. KenPom, Torvik and Haslametrics analytics all rank Bruce Pearl’s team inside the top five nationally in defense. CBB Analytics ranks Auburn first nationally in blocks per game (8.3) and block percentage (20.6). The Tigers also rank first in block and steal percentage combined at over 34 percent of opponents’ possessions ending in a block or a steal by Auburn.

Auburn debuted at No. 21 in the season’s first NET rankings. Auburn holds a 3-0 mark in Quad 2 games, a 2-0 record in Quad 3 matchups and a 3-0 mark in Quad 4 games. The upcoming game against Memphis will be a Quad I game, with the USC and Washington games likely being Quad II games.

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