WBB: Tigers Top Tuskegee in Preseason Clash

Year two of the Johnnie Harris era is unofficially underway and Romi Levy is ready to get back in the action on the Plains.

Author:
Harrison Tarr
Publish date:
Nov 4, 2022 9:46 AM EDT

Year two of the Johnnie Harris era at Auburn is unofficially underway; the Tigers took down neighboring foe Tuskegee 81-59 in a preseason exhibition game on Thursday evening, marking the second consecutive year in which the group delivered an emphatic victory before the season’s official tipoff.

Although the contest did not come in the same convincing fashion as that of last year, the second-year head coach was pleased with her team’s performance from the opening tipoff on.

“I thought our team came out and played pretty hard,” Harris said. “I thought we set the tone early in the ballgame.”

The complete-game effort was encouraging from a group who has little experience playing together and is seeking a quick mesh before taking on conference play.

“We’re young,” Harris said. “We’re trying to get our chemistry, we probably had some nerves there.”

Harris accredited Auburn’s inability to put its cross-town opponent away to the group’s lack of experience playing together and — more importantly — deficiency of collegiate minutes.

“They kept coming back,” Harris said. “(Tuskegee) is a really good team, a really experienced team. They have some transfers in there and some experience over there. There were some times I had three and a couple of times I had four freshmen on the floor.”

Coach J claims that the youth of her team was a determining factor in scheduling a preseason contest with Tuskegee, as she felt that her group could benefit from playing a more experienced squad.

“I didn’t want it to be easy,” Harris said. “I wanted to challenge them, just because we have a tough non-conference schedule. They have to grow up pretty fast.”

Regardless of collegiate reps, the coach J-era brand of Auburn basketball was more than enough to put its opponents to rest.

“We try to wear people out,” Harris said. “At the end, they started turning the ball over, but that was a result of what we did to them in the first, second and third quarter.”

Beyond the obtaining of experience of her freshman group, Harris noted her excitement from the return of 2020-21 all-SEC freshman Romi Levy. Now a junior, Levy returned to game action for the first time since her freshman year after battling a torn ACL throughout what should have been her sophomore campaign.

“It was nice to see (Levy) back out there,” Harris said. “She’s really talented, but she’s had this ACL, she had another little setback last week, so she’s only been back for a few days. I told her I’m going to get here a few minutes at a time.”

Levy logged four points in just ten minutes of playing time in the contest.

With Tuskegee now soundly behind them, Harris and company will set their sights on their official season opener on Tuesday, Nov. 8 when Sam Houston enters Neville Arena to tip off the 2022-23 campaign. Tip between the Tigers and BearKats is set for 7 p.m. CST on SECN+ and the Auburn Radio Network.