The Auburn Tigers (4-1) host the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-2) Wednesday night at Neville Arena as part of the first annual ACC/SEC Challenge.
Auburn has won four games in a row after dropping a close game to the No. 20 Baylor Bears, now No. 9, in the season-opening game in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Virginia Tech lost 79-77 to the South Carolina Gamecocks in its second game of the season. The Hokies won four straight games before falling 84-50 at the hands of the No. 19 Florida Atlantic Owls in the Championship Game of the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, Florida.
What are the main things to pay attention to in this game?
How will Auburn handle Lynn Kidd?
Virginia Tech has a solid center in 6-foot-10 senior Lynn Kidd.
Kidd co-leads the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with eight per game.
Auburn's frontcourt will need to be on Kidd from the beginning of the game. Otherwise, Kidd might find himself in a rhythm early, which would be bad news for the Tigers.
How will Auburn perform defensively?
Defense has been a struggle for Auburn so far this season.
Head coach Bruce Pearl talked about how this would likely be the case before the season started, but the Tigers have not been able to figure it out quite yet on the defensive end of the floor.
Tonight will be a good chance for Auburn to figure some things out.
Will Auburn put two halves together?
One thing that has been true about every game Auburn has played so far this season is that every one has been a tale of two halves.
Some of them have seen the Tigers show up in the first half like Alabama A&M and Baylor. Others have seen the Tigers show up after halftime like St. Bonaventure.
Pearl has talked about how Auburn needs to figure out how to remedy this problem. Will tonight be the night it happens?
Who will step up for Auburn tonight?
Auburn is fortunate to have as deep of a team as it does. This allows Pearl and the rest of the coaching staff to try different things. This gives multiple Tigers the opportunity to make an impact.
This was the case in the Alabama A&M game as Chaney Johnson, a 6-foot-7 guard who transferred to Auburn from UAH this offseason, had a breakout game.
Will a different Tiger have a similar opportunity tonight?
Tipoff is set for 8:15 p.m. CT, and ESPN2 will carry the broadcast.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.locke@1819news.com.
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