Auburn basketball schedules another nonconference game against national powerhouse

AUBURN — Bruce Pearl was clearly being honest in May when discussing the 2024-25 Auburn basketball schedule.

“We’re going to have the toughest nonconference schedule that we’ve ever had,” Pearl, approaching his 11th season on the Plains, said at the annual Fore the Children Golf Classic in Alexander City.

The Tigers added to their nonconference slate Thursday, announcing a two-year agreement with Houston and coach Kelvin Sampson. Auburn will travel to Texas and play the Cougars in the Toyota Center, where the Houston Rockets play, for a matchup Nov. 9. Houston will then come to Birmingham’s Legacy Arena in 2025.

Sampson, similar to Pearl, is soon to embark on his 11th season at his current program. The Cougars have won fewer than 20 games just once under him − his first year on the job − and have been winners of at least 30 games in each of the last three seasons.

“Kelvin Sampson has returned the Houston Basketball program back to the days of greatness with Guy Lewis, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler,” Pearl said in a statement. “His teams fight hard and are physical. They play the right way. With our SEC/ACC Challenge game at Duke and this game versus Houston at the Toyota Center, we will have two road contests against the preseason top two teams in the country. That’s never happened in Auburn Basketball history, so be careful of what you wish for.”

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Auburn’s agreement with Houston comes on the heels of the Tigers announcing a contract with Purdue that’ll see the Boilermakers going to Legacy Arena on Dec. 21 and then Auburn making the trip to Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse in December 2025.

Other currently known nonconference games for the Tigers include a bout at Duke in the ACC/SEC Challenge and three games in the The Maui Invitational. Auburn will play three of the other seven teams attending. The field, aside from the Tigers, includes Colorado, Dayton, Iowa State, Memphis, Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn.

The SEC released in May the locations for its conference games next season. The Tigers will host Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Their road tests will be at Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

Auburn basketball schedule 2024-25: What we know

• Nov. 4: vs. Houston in the Toyota Center (neutral)

• Nov. 25: TBD in Jim Maui Invitational

• Nov. 26: TBD in Jim Maui Invitational

• Nov. 27: TBD in Jim Maui Invitational

• Dec. 4: at Duke as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge

• Dec. 21: vs. Purdue in Legacy Arena (neutral)

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball schedule 2024-25: Tigers add another powerhouse