Auburn, MTSU to play Dec. 12 in Nashville
AUBURN -- Auburn will return to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, where its magical end to last season occurred, on Dec. 12 for a game with Middle Tennessee State.
Tigers coach Bruce Pearl confirmed the date of the second game in a three-year deal with MTSU.
"Middle Tennessee is always been a team that's either in the NCAA Tournament or been in the top two or three in (Conference USA)," Pearl said.
Pearl stresses the benefits of neutral site games, which count more in the RPI calculations. He also wants his team to be comfortable playing at Bridgestone Arena, where Pearl is 12-3 all-time with all three defeats coming in the SEC Tournament, and which will host the 2016 SEC Tournament.
"If we can get our team to where we're on the bubble for a (NCAA) Tournament bid it can put you over the top," Pearl said, "if you can win it on a neutral site."
Auburn defeated MTSU 64-48 on Dec. 29 last season and the teams will conclude their series with a neutral site game at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center during the 2016-17 season. CBSSports.com's Jon Rothstein first reported the date of next season's game.
Auburn also has games lined up with Colorado, at Coastal Carolina, at Xavier and three neutral site games as part of the Diamond Head Classic in Hawai'i on Dec. 22, 23 and 25. The bracket for Diamond Head, which features a field with BYU, Harvard, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawai'i and Washington State, is due out later this summer.
"I'd like to get some of those games on the road and in neutral sites done before I go to Diamond Head because it's going to be a really good field," Pearl said. "How much more can we bite off? I don't know. We'll obviously be adding some home games. I don't know that there will be another marquee."
Auburn, which went 8-14 against teams that made the postseason last year including 5-7 against NCAA Tournament teams, is still looking to complete its non-conference schedule. Any mid-major that finished in the top three of its conference on Pearl's radar, with UAB remaining a strong possibility, if not a likely opponent.
There is a deal "in principle," according to Pearl, for a four-game series with two games in Auburn and two in Birmingham, with one of the two likely off campus. The holdup remains on UAB's end, where the program is awaiting a decision from Conference USA as to its affiliation in light of the school's decision to dissolve its football program.
"I just think it would be a great series," Pearl said, "and something the fans in the state would enjoy."