Auburn to battle Memphis in exhibition game in Atlanta on October 30

Auburn will clash with Memphis on October 30th in Atlanta, GA in an exhibition matchup, the programs announced Tuesday morning.

Bruce Pearl‘s program is coming off its second trip to the Final Four in the past six seasons, while Memphis is fresh off an 29-6 season (best in Penny Hardaway era) with a loss to Colorado State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.

Taking on the Tigers in ATL 🐅 pic.twitter.com/EukwvA0mpK

— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) July 29, 2025

The exhibition matchup against Memphis is Auburn‘s announced game second on its preseason schedule, as the Tigers are slated to clash with Oklahoma State on Oct. 15 in the “Ballin in Boutwell Exhibition Game” in Birmingham, AL.

Along with its two preseason games, Auburn currently has non-conference clashes with Oregon (Players Era Championship), Michigan (Players Era Championship) and NC State (ACC/SEC Challenge) on its schedule for the upcoming season.

Although Memphis won’t be participating in the Players Era Championship, it will instead be heading to the Bahamas for clashes with Purdue and Texas Tech/Wake Forest in the Baha Mar Championship. Penny Hardaway‘s program also has non-conference clashes with Baylor and Vanderbilt lined up in December.

Auburn and Memphis both made NCAA Tournament last season

Although it is just an exhibition game, Bruce Pearl has immense history coaching against the Memphis program while he was the head coach at Tennessee from 2005-11. Pearl led the Volunteers to a 4-2 record with two wins against John Calipari coached teams (2006 & 2009) and two wins over Josh Pastner coached teams (2009 & 2011).

Auburn is heading into the 12th season of the Pearl era, where its totaled a 244-123 (112-83) record with six NCAA Tournament appearances and two trips to the Final Four (2019 & 2025). With 244 wins at Auburn, Bruce Pearl is the winningest head coach in program history. Led by First Team All-American Johni Broome last season, the Tigers rolled to a 32-6 record and a trip to San Antonio to cap off the greatest season in program history.

Memphis is embarking on the eighth season of the Penny Hardaway era, where it has made trips to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons. The Tigers have failed to advance past the Round of 32 in all three of those Tournament runs however, leaving a lot to be desired. The 2024-25 season was extremely promising though, as Memphis won just its second American Conference Tournament since 2023 and earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament (highest seed since 2009).