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Duke Basketball: No. 8 Auburn best SEC team Blue Devils will face

By Kevin Connelly

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 19: Ryan Welage #32 of the Xavier Musketeers loses position to Horace Spencer #0 and Anfernee McLemore #24 of the Auburn Tigers as they try to get control of a loose ball at Lahaina Civic Center on November 19, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 19: Ryan Welage #32 of the Xavier Musketeers loses position to Horace Spencer #0 and Anfernee McLemore #24 of the Auburn Tigers as they try to get control of a loose ball at Lahaina Civic Center on November 19, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
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One of the more challenging opponents for the Duke Basketball team is awaiting them in the No. 8 Auburn Tigers.

The Auburn Tigers will be the best SEC team that the Duke Blue Devils play this season.

Yes, the Blue Devils already demolished then No. 2 Kentucky, but this No. 8 Auburn team is better then the Wildcats and you can just see that with the way they play.

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The Tigers relaxed in their game against Xavier on Monday afternoon, and ended up winning in overtime 88-79, which is not a bad thing for the Blue Devils since they had a walk in the park with San Diego State.

Against Xavier, Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl started Chuma Okeke, Anfernee McLemore, Bryce Brown, Samir Doughty, and Jared Harper.

Brown led the way for the Tigers by dropping in 26 points while Harper was able to add 25 points, six rebounds, and eight assists in the overtime win. Both Brown and Harper logged 43 minutes in this game.

Okeke added 13 points and seven rebounds while McLemore was only able to score six points and Doughty could only get two points on the afternoon.

Pearl played three players off the bench, Horace Spencer, Austin Wiley, and Mailk Dunbar.

Wiley had the biggest impact on Monday’s game as he scored 11 points in 19 minutes while Spencer grabbed five rebounds in 20 minutes.

The one thing missing from the Tigers from last season who won the SEC Regular Season Championship is Mustapha Heron who left the program to be closer to his ill mother and is currently playing at St. John’s.

The Tigers will be a challenge for the Blue Devils but one of the advantages that Duke has is that their key players have much less wear and tear on their legs as the Blue Devils cruised to a win and Auburn was in a fight for 45 minutes.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham at our Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the Auburn Tigers.  

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