Tough Week Leads To Tougher Week For Tigers

After a road week that saw Auburn display perseverance, as well as lethargy in losses at Arkansas and Tennessee, returning to the Plains should be of some comfort. Like most scenarios the Tigers have faced this season, there is good news and bad news in what lies ahead.

Two breeds of Bulldogs. Caldwell-Pope (l) and Moultrie (r).

The good news is that they return home Wednesday, where they are 11-1 this season, with the lone loss coming against #1 Kentucky. The bad news is, there are no easy games in the SEC. Enter Georgia. At 10-10 (1-5), the Bulldogs are a Jekyll and Hyde team, capable of being pretty good or pretty bad. Both teams are similar in size and match up pretty well gainst each other. In addition, they both play a similar grind it out style of basketball, which should not collide into the ugly contest witnessed in Fayetteville last Wednesday. Georgia has a talented backcourt in Dustin Ware, Gerald Robinson, and freshman sensation Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Tigers will have to key on Caldwell-Pope who can bust zone defenses wide open with an uncanny ability to stick the trey ball.

Following the Georgia game, the Tigers will travel to Starkville, MS to take on #16 Mississippi State. This breed of Bulldogs are arguably the most talented team in the league, featuring the always steady Dee Bost and the inside presence of Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie. Moultrie played for Auburn coach Tony Barbee at UTEP and boasts impressive numbers – 12 points per game and 13 rebounds per game. Many people believe that Moultrie would be a Tiger, had UTEP not placed a condition on his release, which disqualified him from transferring to Auburn. If the Tigers are to compete in Starkville, they cannot allow Moultrie and Sidney to have their way inside as the Tennessee big men did this past Saturday.

The advantage both sets of Bulldogs have had are byes, allowing them a week to focus exclusively on the Tigers. Auburn needs to score some wins if they are going to keep their post season hopes alive. At 12-9 overall and 2-5 in league play, there is little margin for error as the Tigers head into the last stretch of the SEC season.

It was good to see Varez Ward back in the lineup Saturday versus Tennessee after missing the Arkansas game due to a deep thigh bruise early in that contest. No word yet on Josh Langford’s return, as it appears he suffered a possible concussion, also against Arkansas.