Some Auburn basketball fans saw the Middle Tennessee State game and secretly cringed. Auburn brought a solid 8–1 record into the contest against the Blue Raiders whose only loss came at the hands of Temple, a team that has since beaten some decent teams such as Wisconsin and South Carolina.
MTSU entered the contest against Auburn ranked 14th in RPI. In addition MTSU has knocked off two SEC teams already this year. The Blue Raiders are led by senior Nick King who averages 24 points per contest. Auburn’s expected game plan was to try and get King into foul trouble because he hadn’t been stopped by any team he’s faced this season.