Welcome back to Neville Arena for the first time in nearly eight months.
The start of the 2022-23 season is just around the corner, with No. 15 Auburn opening the season Monday at home against George Mason. Before the season officially gets underway, though, Bruce Pearl’s team has a preseason tune-up on its home court.
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Auburn and Alabama-Huntsville will tip off in an exhibition at Neville Arena at 7 p.m. The game will not be televised on any network, but AL.com will provide live updates throughout the game in the space below, so be sure to refresh this page for all the latest action between the Tigers and the Chargers. Also stay tuned to al.com/auburnbasketball for full postgame coverage.
HALFTIME: Auburn 46, UAH 32
-- Nine Auburn players scored in the first half, with six scoring at least five points. Wendell Green Jr. leading the way with eight points, two assists and two rebounds. Yohan Traore has seven points and two boards. K.D. Johnson has four points and is a team-best plus-13, even as he’s shooting 1-of-5 overall and 0-of-4 from deep.
-- Back-to-back dunks by Dylan Cardwell to put Auburn in front, 42-30, with 1:12 to play in the half as UAH calls a timeout. Auburn has hit four of its last five shots and now has its largest lead of the game. Cardwell has six points, all on dunks.
-- Auburn 36, UAH 25 (3:02) | Under-4 timeout: Auburn starting to settle in some and create some space between themselves and UAH, hitting five of its last seven shots, but still not quite getting jumpers to fall (just 5-of-15 from deep). Tigers have also gone 11-deep in the rotation, with Stretch Akingbola getting some first-half run.
-- Wendell Green Jr. is starting to get it going. He’s got eight points since the last timeout, including a pair of 3-pointers. Allen Flanigan also had an emphatic baseline dunk after UAH overextended on the perimeter.
-- Auburn 21, UAH 19 (7:39) | Under-8 timeout: Johni Broome with back-to-back buckets to put Auburn up four, but UAH answers with a CJ Williamson basket. Broome is about to head to the free-throw line for a pair of shots after getting fouled before the timeout.
-- Johni Broome with a steal on the perimeter. He dishes it to Zep Jasper in transition, and Jasper finds him for the alley-oop to put Auburn back in front.
-- Auburn 17, UAH 17 (10:34) | Under-12 timeout: Jack Kostel is 2-of-2 from beyond the arc for UAH, which is keeping pace with Auburn midway through the first half here. Auburn is just 3-of-11 from deep and 2-of-6 from the free-throw line (including a Dylan Cardwell airball) early on.
-- Yohan Traore with a nice stroke from the wing for a 3-pointer. Auburn leads, 17-12, with under 13 minutes to go in the first half. The freshman has five points early on here.
-- Auburn 11, UAH 7 (15:36) | Under-16 timeout: Jaylin Williams drills a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and then a stoppage in play after a foul by Allen Flanigan. Auburn is 4-of-8 shooting early on.
-- Tre Donaldson checks in for Green, and now Auburn has gone 10-deep in the rotation less than four minutes into the game.
-- Bruce Pearl’s first substitution of the game is essentially a line change, with Wendell Green Jr. staying in at point. K.D. Johnson, Allen Flanigan, Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome all check in. Johnson quickly gets a basket.
-- First points of the preseason: Dylan Cardwell with a put-back dunk after missing a shot near the rim and grabbing his own rebound.
-- Auburn wins the tip, then calls a quick timeout 11 seconds into the game after UAH comes out pressing.
PREGAME
-- Auburn starting lineup: G Wendell Green Jr., G Zep Jasper, F Chris Moore, F Yohan Traore, C Dylan Cardwell
-- UAH starting lineup: G Luke Barnett, G CJ Williamson, G Jack Kostel, G Chaney Johnson, G Max Shulman.
AL.com will update this post.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.