Honolulu, HI -- Coach Bruce Pearl said he told his players before the game that a win over New Mexico could carry the Auburn basketball team a long way this season.
The Tigers must have listened.
Kareem Canty hit five long 3-pointers and scored 27 points to lead Auburn to an 83-78 victory Tuesday in a wild game of momentum swings in the opener of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. It was a bounce-back performance for the Tigers, who began this long road trip with a loss at Xavier last Saturday.
"It was a gut-check time," Pearl said on the Auburn post-game radio show.