Auburn basketball bolsters schedule with Big Ten foe at Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta
AUBURN — For the fifth season in a row, Auburn basketball will participate in Holiday Hoopsgiving.
The Tigers, who beat Indiana in the event last year, will return to State Farm Arena on Dec. 14 to play Ohio State, the program announced Monday. Auburn has played the Buckeyes once before, with the teams meeting in the Sweet 16 of the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Ohio State earned a 72-64 win on the way to Final Four.
Ohio State has won 20 or more games in six of the last seven seasons, including 22 victories in 2023-24. Fourteen of those wins last season came under Chris Holtmann, who was fired in February. Assistant coach Jake Diebler led the Buckeyes to an 8-3 record as the interim coach. He was officially named the head coach March 17. Diebler has previous experience as an assistant at Valparaiso and Vanderbilt.
Auburn's agreement with the Buckeyes comes on the heels of the Tigers announcing contracts with Purdue and Houston. Auburn will play the Cougars on Nov. 9 and the Boilermakers on Dec. 21.
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.
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Nov. 9: Houston at 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. 14: vs. Ohio State as part of Holiday Hoopsgiving (neutral)
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: Tigers know foe for Holiday Hoopsgiving
