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Are you ready for Tony Barbee's return to Auburn Arena? It's coming.
The 2015-16 SEC basketball schedule was released this evening, and it includes a game against Kentucky on January 16th at 3pm. The Arena is always rocking when Kentucky comes to town, but I imagine it will be even rowdier for that particular game.
And if any of you Barners out there sell your tickets to a UK fan, then your Barn Card will be revoked with extreme prejudice.
Here is the full schedule in wonderful Twitter form...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: The SEC conference schedule for Auburn basketball has been released <a href="http://t.co/k3ZyeKGS5F">pic.twitter.com/k3ZyeKGS5F</a></p>— Auburn Jungle (@AUJungle) <a href="https://twitter.com/AUJungle/status/634139028267380736">August 19, 2015</a></blockquote>
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So, let's take a closer look...
Schedule
Home games are in caps and bold, away games lowercase. I'm not 100% certain whether the times are Eastern or Central
Jan 2 - TENNESSEE - 1pm
Jan 5 - SOUTH CAROLINA - 6pm
Jan 9 - Missouri - 8pm
Jan 12 - Vanderbilt - 8pm
Jan 16 - KENTUCKY - 3pm
Jan 19 - ALABAMA - 8pm
Jan 23 - Florida - 7pm
Jan 27 - Ole Miss - 6pm
- BREAK IN CONFERENCE SCHEDULE - Auburn plays Oklahoma State at home as part of the SEC - Big 12 Challenge
Feb 2 - LSU - 6pm
Feb 6 - Georgia - 4:30pm
Feb 9 - Tennessee - 6pm
Feb 13 - VANDERBILT - 5pm
Feb 17 - Arkansas - 6pm
Feb 20 - OLE MISS - 4pm
Feb 24 - GEORGIA - 6pm
Feb 27 - Alabama - 4pm
Mar 1 - TEXAS A&M - 8pm
Mar 5 - Mississippi State - 1:30pm
Big Games
We know the Kentucky game is going to be big for the reasons already mentioned along with it just being Kentucky. The opening game against Tennessee will be a big one, as well, with the Bruce Pearl connection. Only the Texas A&M game on March 1st is a late evening home game, which is fantastic after all of the complaints last season.
The Iron Bowl of Basketball games will take place on January 19th in Auburn and February 27th at Alabama. So, the Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy should be coming back to Auburn in mid-January, am I right?
It's the SEC, so I could find a reason for every game on this schedule to be a big one after last season's 4-14 Conference record.
Basketball season is right around the corner, too!