Auburn Basketball celebrates upcoming season with 'Tipoff at Toomers'

AUBURN, Ala. - Basketball returned to the plains in the best way possible: in massive celebration.

Auburn Athletics, Auburn University and the City of Auburn presented the first Tipoff at Toomer’s Thursday evening, Oct. 17 in the heart of downtown Auburn. 

The event featured the historic 2018-19 basketball season and trip to the Final Four. The Auburn men and women’s 2019-20 basketball teams and coaches, Bruce Pearl and Terri Williams-Flournoy, were honored before the festivities began.

Preparations for the event began at 4 a.m. Thursday. A half-court basketball court was assembled in the middle of the College St. and Magnolia Ave. intersection for the main event: the dunk, 3-point and 3-on-3 contests.

W Magnolia Ave. at Wright St., S College Street at Thach Ave., E Magnolia Ave. at Gay St. and N College St. at Tichenor Ave. remained closed Thursday once preparations began.

Festivities started at 4 p.m. with downtown merchants opening and the Samford Lawn Fan Fest, which offered corn-hole and other tailgating activities. 

The Tiger Talk commentating crew live broadcasted the event for fans and students. Andy Burcham, the Voice of the Auburn Tigers, announced the opening of the Jungle “pit” area for students to claim their spot close to the court an hour before tipoff. Students rushed into the pit to get their spot and free student t-shirt, provided by Coca-Cola.

At 7 p.m., the teams took the court for the contests to begin. Players from the mens and womens teams were paired together for the 3-point and 3-on-3 contests. The action concluded with the highly anticipated dunk contest.

“I thought it was such a fun experience because Auburn has never done anything like that,” said Casey Kantor, a third year Auburn student, “It was a great way to honor the basketball team and get the Auburn community ready for another incredible basketball season.”

After the contest, fans had the opportunity to meet the teams through an autographing session.

Tipoff at Toomer’s was scheduled for the year prior but was cancelled due to weather.