Fight between Auburn basketball players forces team flight to turn around: reports

According to multiple reports, a fight between Auburn men’s basketball players forced the team’s flight to turn back shortly after takeoff Friday night. The flight was to Houston, where the No. 11 Tigers are scheduled to play No. 4 Houston on Saturday.

WBRC in Birmingham, Alabamareported that the plane’s pilot told air traffic control, “We’ve got a lot of basketball players fighting.” The pilot also reportedly said, “We had two players who got into a physical altercation and their clothing was torn.”

The incident reportedly escalated to the point where flight crew decided to turn the flight around and ground it.

Auburn has since boarded a flight to Houston again.

The game between the Tigers and Cougars is one of the most anticipated non-conference matchups of the college basketball season.

Auburn (1-0) enters the game with one of its best squads in program history, led by National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome.

Houston (1-0) is a preseason favorite to win the national championship and returns four starters from a team that went 32-5 and won the Big 12.

The Houston vs. Auburn game is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. It will be televised on ESPNU.