Report: Incident between players forces Auburn basketball players to return home and land plane

Auburn’s The plane had to turn back on the way there Houston after an incident between players “that could have escalated into a fight” The field of 68 Jeff Goodman reported. The Tigers were on the road for about 45 minutes before having to return to Auburn because of “nonsense,” which “almost became a donnybrook.”

The Tigers are expected to fly back to Houston on Friday evening for Saturday’s game. According to WBRC-TV’s Jonathan Hardison, air traffic control audio showed a pilot in the airspace saying, “We’ve got a lot of basketball players fighting,” although Goodman said no punches were thrown. However, shouting ensued as players punched each other in the face. AuburnLive’s Justin Hokanson had More details also about the situation.

Auburn pulled off a blowout victory in its first game of the season and cruised by Vermont 94-43 at Neville Arena. Five Tigers reached double figures – with a lead of 21 points Miles Kelly – as they shot 56.3% as a group, including going 16-for-35 from three-point range. On defense, Auburn held Vermont to just 15 of 58 points overall and 5 of 23 points from downtown.

Despite the strong performance Bruce Pearl didn’t want fans to overreact to a 51-point win. He simply said Auburn got hot and played welland it wasn’t much more than that.

“We’re not celebrating it,” Pearl said. “Don’t read too much into it other than we shot it really well and played it pretty hard.”

Although Auburn begins the year against Vermont — which is ranked No. 103 in the KenPom rankings — Auburn’s schedule doesn’t get any easier. In addition to Houston, the Tigers also have to compete this weekend duke, Iowa State, Ohio State And Purdue before SEC play begins once the calendar switches to 2025.

Pearl’s planning philosophy is simple. The Tigers are now seen as a quality win, which is why he is ready to play such high-profile opponents.

“We’ve worked so hard to get our program to the point where these teams want to play us,” Pearl said during Auburn’s football game against us Vanderbilt. “They believe the opportunity to play Auburn is a quality win. That wasn’t the case 10 years ago.

“I know student-athletes come to Auburn because they want to play against the best. It’s a real responsibility for us to represent the SEC and keep that schedule and beat some of these teams.”