AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn Tigers (18-10, 7-8) took down the Mississippi State Bulldogs (20-10, 7-8) Thursday night in Neville Arena. Honesty Scott-Grayson led the way for the Tigers with 32 points. The win over the Bulldogs should be enough to get the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament under third-year head coach Johnnie Harris.
The Tigers’ tournament résumé is there. It’s not great, but nobody’s suggesting they should be a high seed. They went 11-2 in nonconference play, and now sit at 7-8 in the SEC, a conference that ESPN projects to put eight teams in the big dance. They have strong wins over good teams like Alabama and Mississippi State, their marquee win coming at home over No. 7 LSU back in January. With those wins have come some hard-fought, quality losses. They have three one-possession losses on the road at Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas. They had back-to-back close road losses to Alabama and LSU, both games within reach in the waning minutes.
The Tigers have taken care of business when they have needed to. They will have to do it once more Sunday in Gainesville against a subpar but feisty Florida team. They took care of business tonight, and it was Honesty Scott-Grayson who led the way.
Since she arrived on the Plains in 2019, Scott-Grayson has been nothing short of a revelation for the Tigers. In this, her final year of eligibility, she has been an All-SEC level talent. She is third in the conference in scoring with 17.8 points per game. Her 32 Thursday night were a career high. She adds 4.3 rebounds per game, remarkable for her 5’9” stature, and she dishes out 2.3 assists per game, not insignificant for a scoring guard surrounded by great passers.
Tigers head coach Johnnie Harris told the media Sunday how much Scott-Grayson prioritizes winning, harking back to her disappointment following a 31-point outing versus South Carolina that ended in a loss. “I remember her saying she would give all those points back for a win,” said Harris. Thursday, on Senior Night, she got both.
As remarkable as Scott-Grayson has been this season, so have Harris’s Tigers as a whole. The team features a total of eight newcomers between four freshman and four first-year transfers. The new blood has been nothing but good as the Tigers have experienced their best season since 2018-19. Taylen Collins and JaMya Mingo-Young have led the way among the transfers. Collins is in the top 15 in the SEC in rebounds with 6.5 per game, and Mingo-Young is in the top 10 in assists with 3.8. The Tigers’ ability to attack teams in multiple ways is what has made them so dangerous.
With one game left, they hope to finish 19-10 and 8-8 in conference play. They are on the cusp of their first NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Harris. It would be her first as a head coach.
The SEC Tournament begins Wednesday, March 6. Selection Sunday is March 17.
