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PAGE 9 November E-Edition 2025
No. 20 Auburn raced to a 25-point halftime lead and cruised to a 100-71 exhibition victory over Memphis on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at State Farm Arena. “Credit to our guys for really locking into the scouting report and executing,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “Our guys had a great response. A hundred points against a really good Memphis team. I thought our guys did a really good job.” Elyjah Freeman made four of Auburn’s 10 first-half steals, part of 17 Memphis turnovers in the first 20 minutes, helping Auburn amass a 25-0 advantage in points off turnovers. Memphis finished with 23 turnovers. “We started out in our zone defense and I think it really threw them off guard,” Pearl said. “We were constantly changing defenses from man to zone. There were a lot of possessions where they were running zone offense against our man-to-man because we did such a good job of being in gaps early in the game.” Keyshawn Hall led Auburn with 20 points. Freshman point guard Kaden Magwood was 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range, scoring 15 points. Filip Jovic and Tahaad Pettiford each added 11 points. Freeman led the Tigers with six rebounds and Pettiford had a game- high five assists. Eleven Tigers played double-digit minutes. Abul Bashir made 3 of 5 3-pointers and scored nine points, as did freshman forward Sebastian Williams-Adams, who was 3-for-4 from the floor. Leading 52-27 at the half, Auburn scored the first seven points of the second half in less than a minute on dunks from Filip Jovic and Hall, followed by Hall’s 3-pointer, leading to a Memphis timeout and a 32-point Auburn lead. “It was about coming out, punching them in the mouth and not relaxing,” Hall said. “We locked in because we didn’t want that sour taste of the Oklahoma State game in our mouth.” Abdul Bashir ‘s 3-pointer pushed the run to 10-0, giving Auburn a 62-27 lead. Magwood hit a free throw in the final minute to help Auburn reach the century mark. The Steven Pearl era officially begins Monday, November 3 when the Tigers welcome Bethune-Cookman to Neville Arena for Tipoff on The Plains at 7 p.m. CT. _Courtesy of Jeff Shearer and Auburn Athletics Auburn Scores 100 points in exhibition win over Memphis 2025 SEC Men’s Preseason Teams The Southeastern Conference has unveiled its 21st annual men’s basketball coaches’ preseason All-SEC teams for the 2025-26 season. Kentucky’s Otega Oweh was the coaches’ choice for SEC Preseason Player of the Year. Joining Oweh on the preseason first team is Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr., Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford, Florida’s Alex Condon, and Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard. Entering the season, KenPom.com has the SEC rated as the No. 1 conference in the nation. Last year, the SEC’s +22.09 KenPom rating was the highest rating in history, breaking the ACC’s +21.37 record in 1997. Thirteen SEC teams are ranked in KenPom.com’s Top 50 and all 16 rank in the Top 90. The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 featured six SEC teams ranked: Florida 3rd, Kentucky 9th, Arkansas 14th, Alabama 15th, Tennessee 18th, and Auburn 20th. The 2025-26 campaign begins Monday, November 3, with league play set to begin January 3. The 2026 SEC Tournament will be March 11-15 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. A list of the 2026 SEC Men’s Basketball Coaches Preseason All-SEC teams follows: First Team • Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama • Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn • Alex Condon, Florida • Otega Oweh, Kentucky • Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State Second Team • Boogie Fland, Florida • Malik Dia, Ole Miss • Mark Mitchell, Missouri • Nate Ament, Tennessee • Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee Third Team • Aden Holloway, Alabama • Darius Acuff Jr, Arkansas • Karter Knox, Arkansas • D.J. Wagner, Arkansas • Thomas Haugh, Florida Preseason Player of the Year • Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger
Ayden Rains runs the football during the Geraldine Bulldog's regular season finale against Douglas on Thursday, October 30, 2025. The Bulldogs defeated the visiting Eagles 42-25 to finish the year at 9-1 overall and 7-0 in Class 3A Region 8. Geraldine will be seeking the program's 10th win of the season when hosting Rogers in the opening round of the State Playoffs. The Bulldogs have only had two 10 win seasons in school history. Geraldine's 2000 team and 2023 team both finished at 12-2 overall. Douglas finished this season at 5-5 overall. Bulldogs Seeking 10th Win of Season
Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger
Brindlee Mountain's Tobi Knepper (#10) runs the football during the Lions recent 52-7 loss to Collinsville. Brindlee Mountain finished the 2025 season with an 2-8 overall record. The Collinsville Panthers are 8-2 and will be traveling to Colbert County in the opening round of the Class 3A State Playoffs on Friday, November 7.
Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger
Spring Garden's Ayden Littlefield (#13) in action during a recent Junior High girls basketball game at Cedar Bluff. The visiting Panthers won the game 26-13.
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