AUBURN — The 2024-25 Auburn basketball schedule is slowly coming together.

The Tigers, who won 27 games last season, will play at Duke on Dec. 4 in the second edition of the ACC/SEC Challenge. The in-season series between the two conferences began last year, and coach Bruce Pearl's team took care of business with a 74-57 home win over Virginia Tech in November.

Auburn's victory against the Hokies was one of seven triumphs the SEC enjoyed. The ACC matched that total, as the challenge ended in a tie during its inaugural season. Notable results last campaign included Kentucky topping Miami, Clemson dropping Alabama and North Carolina getting by Tennessee. Arkansas also earned an upset victory over Duke.

Ahead of his squad's road game against Arkansas last season, Pearl discussed how winning that game could improve Auburn's standing in the hierarchy of the conference. In turn, that would help the Tigers get better opponents in the ACC/SEC Challenge moving forward.

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"Look, there's an edge. There's clearly an edge to this game with us and Arkansas," Pearl said Jan. 4. "Obviously, we've had some tight contests before. But I'll give you an example: I think over the last five to seven years, I think Auburn has been one of the better teams in the SEC. I believe that's the case. Arkansas played Duke in the ACC Challenge. They got Duke at home. Arkansas did. Look, Arkansas has gone to the NCAA Tournament, they've gone to a couple Elite Eights.

"Auburn didn't get Duke. Auburn didn't get North Carolina. Auburn didn't get Virginia. Auburn didn't get Miami. Arkansas did. Tennessee got North Carolina. Kentucky got Miami. Texas A&M got Virginia. So, unless we can go on the road and beat a team like Arkansas, we're going to get Virginia Tech and they're going to get Duke."

The Tigers went on to beat Arkansas by 32 points, the largest margin of victory a visiting team has had in the history of Bud Walton Arena.

Auburn and Duke have played four times, with the Tigers losing all four matchups. This will be the first time Auburn plays in Cameron Indoor Stadium since it narrowly fell, 72-71, in December 1981. The latest contest between the programs saw star freshman Zion Williamson lead Duke to a win in November 2018.

None of the other games on Auburn's nonconference slate have been announced, though it is known the Tigers will participate in the 2024 Jim Maui Invitational. They won't play every team there, but the field includes Colorado, Dayton, Iowa State, Memphis, Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn.

"We're going to have the toughest nonconference schedule that we've ever had," Pearl said in May.

The SEC recently released the locations for each of 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 include trips to Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

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: Tigers learn their opponent for ACC/SEC Challenge