Pair of Final Four teams from a season ago meet on Sunday originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The top-ranked Houston Cougars (3-0) and the No. 22 Auburn Tigers (3-0) meet in a clash of half of last seasons Final Four on Sunday at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL., at 3 pm on ESPN.
The Tigers bested the Cougars, 74-69 in the last meeting on Nov. 9, 2024, behind a game-high 21 points from guard Tahaad Pettiford.
Having served as an associate coach over the last two seasons to his father, former Tigers coach Bruce Pearl, current coach Steven Pearl saw first-hand last season how Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson prepares the Cougars in all phases of the game.
I have a ton of respect for him, his staff and their program and how they operate. Theyre the standard in college basketball, Pearl said via 247Sports.
In only his fourth game as Auburn coach, Pearl receives the toughest test by far (with respect to Bethune-Cookman, Merrimack and Wofford) in Houston, but has a pair of transfer portal guys to lean on.
Despite losing Broome, Miles Kelly, Denver Jones and Dylan Cardwell at the end of last season, UCF transfer Keyshawn Hall has continued to score at a premier level for Auburn with an average of 24.3 points per game and 11 rebounds per game with at least 20 points in his first three games this season.
Mississippi State transfer and current Auburn forward KeShawn Murphy has provided a secondary spark with 17 ppg and eight rpg, which will be needed in order to pull the upset over Houston.
To say last seasons national runner-up Houston has a chip on its shoulder would be an understatement. The Cougars have steamrolled through all three of their opponents this season by at least 18 points.
Emanuel Sharp and Kingston Flemings lead a dynamic Houston backcourt as each have shot from at least 40 percent from three-point range this season.
In the 78-45 win over Oakland on Nov. 12, Sharp and Flemings finished with co-game highs of 19 points. Flemings has proven to be the ultimate Swiss army knife for the Cougars as the freshman delivered a game-high nine assists in the win against the Golden Grizzlies.
Similar to Auburn, Sundays game provides Houston with its toughest test by a mile in the young season and will be a de facto home game as Auburn fans will fill up most of the seats at Legacy Arena, which counts as a neutral site game despite the 128-minute commute to Neville Arena on Auburns campus.
Old rivals No. 5 Arizona and No. 15 UCLA meet in the Hall of Fame Series
No. 6 Michigan and TCU square off in Fort Worth tonight