The No. 2 Auburn Tigers are gearing up for their final non-conference game against the Monmouth Hawks on Monday night after eight days off since their last win against then No. 16 Purdue.
The Hawks are just 2-10 on the season with wins over Seton Hall and Fairfield and are led by the nation's ninth-best scorer, Abdi Bashir, Jr., who averages 21.6 points per game. Bashir has two 30-point games, including 38 points against Rutgers and 30 at Stephen F. Austin. He also has six games of at least 20 points and is tied for second nationally, averaging four three-pointers per game, including a program-record 10 three-pointers at Rutgers.
“Watching him a little bit, he reminds me of [Chad Baker-Mazara]. He’s long and can really score the basketball. He can shoot it, you know, he’s tied for second nationally averaging four three-pointers a game. So, obviously, he’s a really good player,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl of Bashir.
Madison Durr is the only other Hawk to join Bashir in double-digit scoring with 10.3 points per game while shooting almost 43% from deep and leading the squad in assists with 3.5 per game.
Auburn is coming off an 87-69 drubbing of Purdue in its last outing and ends what was the program's toughest stretch of non-conference games, playing two top-five opponents, a top-10 opponent and the No. 12 and 16 teams in the country. The Tigers boast a nation-leading six Quad 1 wins with one loss, all of which have been played away from home and have won one game by 51 points, three by at least 41 points and five by at least 33 points throughout the first 12 non-conference games.
“Jay Bilas has talked about the fact that — he says that Auburn and Houston are the two teams that finish first in effort. And I tell coaches when I clinic all the time, ‘Look, I think your job is to get your kids to play as hard or harder than the opponent.’ We’ve got to win but also play with effort and energy. And I think that guys that come from backgrounds where they don't have as many stars in front of their names, where they're hungry, humble, something to prove, it lets them do it every night,” Pearl said.
The Tigers also have a chance to make history on Monday night. A win against the Hawks would give the Tigers the best non-conference winning percentage in the SEC over the last nine years with a 92-15 record — 59-straight against non-conference foes in Neville Arena.
“One of the things I'm really pleased about, as you guys know: I'm a big fan of history and making history. In the last nine years, at least to this point, we're 92-15 with a .859 winning percentage in the non-conference and that leads the SEC. Now, we’ve got to win Monday, and I think we lead a couple of teams by a game or two. Still, to be able to say after nine seasons — but we won’t be able to say it until Monday night if we beat Monmouth — that in nine years, we will have the best winning percentage in the non-conference over anybody in the SEC.”
Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed on SECN+.
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