The 1987–88 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team represented

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in the 1987–88 college basketball season. The team's head coach was

Sonny Smith Charles H. "Sonny" Smith (born November 15, 1936) is a retired American college basketball coach. Originally from Roan Mountain, Tennessee, Smith served as a head coach for 22 seasons. Best known as the head coach at Auburn from 1978 to 1989, he ...

, who was in his tenth season at Auburn. The team played their home games at Joel H. Eaves Memorial Coliseum in Auburn, Alabama. They finished the season 19–11, 11–7 in SEC play. They lost to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in the quarterfinals of the

SEC tournament The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when t ...

. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Bradley to advance to the Second Round where they lost to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. The Tigers' most notable freshman signee was 7'0" center

Matt Geiger Matthew Allen Geiger (born September 10, 1969) is an American former professional National Basketball Association player who played at the center position. Collegiate career Geiger played for Countryside High School in Clearwater, Florida and w ...

. Geiger was pressed into service early as a starter when senior Jeff Moore went down with an early-season injury. Junior forward Mike Jones, the Tigers' leading scorer and rebounder, was declared academically ineligible and left the team after seven games. As a result, sophomore John Caylor became a starting forward along with senior Chris Morris. Caylor paid an immediate dividend by hitting a game-winning 3-point shot with 10 seconds left to give the Tigers an early conference road victory over #1-ranked Kentucky. Guards Gerald White and Frank Ford were lost to graduation, but seniors Terrence Howard and Johnny Lynn, sophomore Derrick Dennison, and juco transfer Keenan Carpenter were able to offset the loss.

Roster

Schedule and Results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, SEC Tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA Tournament

Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team Auburn Tigers men's basketball seasons

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...