Auburn turns plane around because of ‘horseplay’ between players during trip before clash with No. 4 Houston: report

The Auburn men’s basketball team will be a little late to get to Houston.

According to Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, the Tigers’ westbound flight had to be turned around due to “nonsense” between a group of players during the trip that could have escalated into a fight. He later reported that there was shouting and players punching each other in the face, but there were no actual punches.

The Auburn flight was reportedly in transit for 45 minutes before heading back home. Another flight to Houston was scheduled for later Friday. Auburn takes on No. 4 Houston on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET.

One can only wonder if Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said the words, “Stop yelling or I’ll turn this plane over.”

One of the pilots involved reportedly described the incident as a fight against air traffic control, but we don’t know if that person actually saw anything. There is also a report from a social media account created last month identifying a group of three players who got into a physical altercation, but this report is not confirmed at all.

All of this suddenly makes Auburn’s player deployment in the game against Houston very interesting. Pearl probably won’t be eager to bring in a player who has put such a big dent in the team’s travel plans, but you never know.

Auburn opened its season with a 94-43 win over Vermont on Wednesday and is currently ranked No. 11 in the AP poll. Houston is currently the -225 favorite on the money line at BetMGM, with a spread of 5.5 points.