ABOUT AUBURN
• Heading into Saturday's contest on The Plains, Auburn is coming off back-to-back road losses to Missouri and Georgia. The Tigers were without freshman forward Isaac Okoro in both games. Okoro is currently averaging 13.1 ppg and 4.8 rpg, both of which ranked second on the team prior to his injury.
• Auburn currently sits in second in the SEC with a 9-4 mark in league play and a record of 22-4 overall. Auburn began the year 15-0 and was one of two undefeated teams remaining in Division I as January reached its midpoint. All of this comes one year after the Tigers won the 2019 SEC Tournament and played their way to the program's first-ever Final Four appearance.
• Even with Okoro's injury, the Tigers are led by their senior backcourt duo of Samir Doughty and J'Von McCormick. Doughty leads the Tigers in scoring (16.0 ppg) and steals (1.1 spg) and ranks second in assists (2.6 apg). McCormick ranks second for Auburn in scoring (12.2 ppg) and steals (1.0 spg), but is the Tigers' leading assist man, with 4.5 helpers per contest.
• In the paint, the Tigers have seen solid production from senior center Austin Wiley. Wiley is averaging 10.5 ppg, which ranks third on the team, and his team-leading 9.4 rpg rank second in the SEC, trailing only Mississippi State's Reggie Perry.
• Auburn University was not given its current name until 1960. From its opening in 1856 through 1960, the institution went through multiple name changes which included the East Alabama Male College and the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Its name officially changed to Auburn in 1960 after the Alabama Legislature granted it university status. Its new name better expressed the expanded curriculum the school had been offering for years.