AU HOOPS: Tigers expect tough road trip tonight

The words Missouri State and “hostile environment” don’t exactly go together very often, but that’s what coach Jeff Lebo is expecting tonight against the Bears.

“It will be full,” Lebo said. “It’s their home opener with an SEC team coming in. I expect it to be a tough environment to play in.”

Even while playing some bad basketball that left it 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State packed its brand new JQH Arena on a regular basis in its first year. Bears fans filled it nearly to capacity for Missouri State’s home-opening win against Arkansas and the team averaged a home attendance of 7,147 per game.

The Tigers, meanwhile, averaged 5,245 last season and saw just 4,613 out for their season-opening victory against Niagara on Friday.

Of course, the Bears basketball team is the biggest game in town while Auburn packs 87,000-plus into its home football games, but, nonetheless, it will provide a unique atmosphere for Auburn’s new faces.

The Tigers didn’t exactly perform well on the road during their non-conference portion of the schedule last year, either, winning just once (Virginia) while dropping key RPI games against Dayton, Xavier and Northern Iowa.

“We have players who are playing on the road for the first time,” Lebo said of his five scholarship newcomers and two new walk-ons. “Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes we made against Niagara and go in with some confidence on the road. I think that is big.”

There’s plenty of uncertainty this season for the Bears, who were picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. They return just two starters, but have two Division I transfers in 7-foot center Caleb Patterson (Colorado) and sharpshooter Adam Leonard (Eastern Kentucky).

“They have a lot of new faces and seven new guys like we do,” Lebo said.

| 737-2561