Sports
Auburn basketball to play first game in Huntsville in 20 years – AL.com
Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl during round two of the NCAA Tournament at Legacy Arena in Birmingham,AL Saturday, March 18,2023. (Marvin Gentry | AL.com)
Two SEC basketball games are coming to Huntsville in December.
The Auburn men’s team will play UNC-Asheville on Dec. 13 while the Tennessee women’s team will play Middle Tennessee State on Dec. 6 with both games played at the Von Braun Center’s Propst Arena.
The games’ presenting sponsor will be Akima, a Virginia-based federal solutions contractor with a growing presence in Huntsville. The games are also part of an ongoing effort by officials to bolster Huntsville’s place in the sports tourism industry.
Related: How Huntsville is working to bring bigger sporting events to Rocket City
“We are proud to see Huntsville continue its growth as a sports destination and bring two major college basketball games to the Von Braun Center this season,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said in a press release. “Thanks to Akima for their tremendous support, we welcome Auburn and their fans back to the Von Braun Center and bring a top-notch women’s basketball game to Huntsville for the first time.”
Auburn, which has two players with deep ties to Huntsville, will be playing its first game in the Rocket City in 20 years and it will be the first time Propst Arena has hosted a neutral site women’s game – a matchup that’s not so coincidental.
The Lady Vols have been a premier program in the SEC for decades while MTSU, geographically speaking, is the closest Conference USA school to Huntsville. And Conference USA will begin a two-year run in March 2024 of holding its men and women’s conference tournaments in Huntsville. Both teams played in the NCAA tournament last season as well.
“With the Conference USA Tournament in Huntsville this (season), we wanted to introduce our fans to this great city and thanks to Tennessee, we can create a terrific showcase for women’s basketball,” Chris Massaro, athletic director at MTSU, said in the press release.
While the University of Alabama has played multiple games in Huntsville over the years, Auburn makes its return during a golden age of basketball for the Tigers under coach Bruce Pearl. The Tigers played in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four for the first time in 2019. Auburn has won three SEC regular season titles in Pearl’s nine years on the bench and played in four NCAA tournaments.
The game will also be a sort of homecoming for Auburn junior Denver Jones, who played at nearby Buckhorn High School, as well as junior Chaney Thompson, who played three seasons at the University of Alabama in Huntsville before transferring to Auburn.
The men’s game will be branded the Rocket City Classic, which came together through a partnership with Nations of Coaches, the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Huntsville Sports Commission and KnightEady. According to the press release announcing the games, Nations of Coaches is a non-profit supporting college basketball coaches and student-athletes with character building programs that focus on them as a person who plays basketball, not just a basketball player.
“I am excited to bring our team to participate in the Rocket City Classic and engage with the Auburn family throughout north Alabama, where we have some of the most loyal and passionate Auburn fans in the country,” Pearl said in the press release. “To partner with our friends at Nations of Coaches to make this event happen will enable them to invest more in young men through their character-building and faith-based programs.
“UNC Asheville has been one of the top mid-major programs in this part of the country, so it will be a good test for us. I am also excited to bring Denver Jones home as well as Chaney Johnson, who started his collegiate career at UAH.”
Akima raised its north Alabama profile by purchasing Huntsville-based Pinnacle Solutions in July.
“Akima is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the Rocket City Classic and being part of the fabric of Huntsville,” Bill Monet, president and CEO of Akima, said in the press release. “We are committed to supporting the communities where our employees live and work, and we look forward to two great games this fall that will showcase the best of the Rocket City.”
Tickets for the Auburn game go on sale Aug. 16 through Ticketmaster and the Von Braun Center box office. Tickets for the Tennessee-MTSU game will go on sale Sept. 4.
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