FAYETTEVILLE -- Auburn's men's basketball team won't be lacking motivation when the No. 22 Tigers play the No. 13 Arkansas Razorbacks at 7:30 Central tonight at Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala.
The Tigers are looking to bounce back from a 76-64 loss at Georgia on Wednesday night.
Auburn also has six returnees who played at Walton Arena last season when the University of Arkansas beat the No. 1 Tigers 80-76 in overtime and fans stormed the court afterward.
Tigers Allen Flanigan and Chris Moore have the added incentive of being from Arkansas.
Flanigan, a 6-6 senior guard, is from Little Rock Parkview. Moore, a 6-6 junior forward, is from West Memphis.
"For me, it's personal, just being from Little Rock and them offering another kid over me," Flanigan, in an apparent reference to then-Arkansas coach Mike Anderson signing Justice Hill from Little Rock Christian in November 2018, told members of the Auburn media Friday. "I never got the offer from my home state, even though I was the No. 1 player in the state.
"So it's personal to me to play against the Hogs."
Hill, who enrolled at Arkansas in January 2019, turned out to be Anderson's last Razorback signee.
Anderson was fired by Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek after the 2018-19 season and Hill never played for the Razorbacks.
When Eric Musselman was hired as Arkansas' coach, Hill transferred to Salt Lake (Utah) Community College, then played at Murray State and is now a senior starting point guard at LSU.
Musselman recruited Moore, but he chose to sign with Auburn.
"For me, it's also personal," Moore told Auburn media about playing the Razorbacks. "The day I committed to Auburn, the fan base went crazy on me for not going [to Arkansas]. They said I was disloyal to the state.
"So just beating them for the first time in three years would be amazing. It would definitely make my New Year's."
Moore is 0-2 against the Razorbacks the previous two years, while Flanigan was a freshman when Arkansas and Auburn split two games in the 2019-20 season.
Flanigan has 54 starts in 91 games for the Tigers, but he's come off the bench in 13 of 14 games this season and is averaging 7.6 points and 4.3 points in 22.6 minutes.
Moore has started all 14 games and is averaging 6.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 18.4 minutes.
Other returnees for Auburn include junior guards Wendell Green and K.D. Johnson and senior guard Zep Jasper -- who was injured when the Tigers played at Arkansas last season -- along with junior forward Jaylin Williams and junior center Dylan Cardwell.
Flanigan scored 11 points at Georgia and hit 5 of 10 shots.
"Al really worked hard all week long," Tigers Coach Bruce Pearl said after the game according to Auburn.com. "It translated pretty quickly. That may be something we can build on."
Flanigan scored a season-high 18 points against South Florida and has scored 16 or more 13 times, including 19 against Arkansas as a sophomore.
"We know how good Flanigan is," Musselman said. "We know how good Williams is. ... We know the energy that Cardwell brings and the enthusiasm that he brings to the home crowd.
"We know the explosiveness in the backcourt of Green and Johnson, how they can shoot threes and dribble drive. We know that Chris Moore plays with great energy and pounds the offensive boards and is a really good cutter and an improved three-point shooter. We know Jasper can make threes.
"But we've got to teach our guys who these players are because it's a new team in the SEC rotation so to speak."
The only Razorbacks who played against Auburn last season are junior guard Davonte Davis and senior forward Kamani Johnson.
Davis had 10 points off the bench, but likely is best remembered for a basket that didn't count when he dunked over Green a split second after the game-ending buzzer.
This season Davis is in the starting lineup with four newcomers in junior guard Ricky Council, a transfer from Wichita State; freshman guard Anthony Black; senior center Makhi Mitchell, a transfer from Rhode Island; and freshman forward Jordan Walsh.
Arkansas freshman guard Nick Smith, projected as a top-five NBA Draft pick, remains out indefinitely with a knee injury. He averaged 16.0 points in the four games he started.
"They've got pieces without him," Pearl said when asked about Smith's absence. "They're really deep and they're really talented, so if he was back for a few weeks and then integrated into the system, they could be better.
"But they've played so long without him and they've got enough depth that it hasn't been that big a factor yet. They might shoot it a little better [with Smith], because he can really shoot it."
With Smith out, Council and Black are Arkansas' top scorers averaging 18.4 and 11.7 points, respectively.
"The challenge will be to keep people in front of us," Pearl said. "Arkansas does a great job of getting downhill. They're way better from two than they are from three."
Johni Broome, a 6-10 sophomore transfer from Morehead (Ky.) State, has been an impact newcomer for the Tigers after being the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He's averaging 13.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots.
Broome had 22 points and 12 rebounds at Georgia and hit 9 of 17 shots, including 2 of 5 three-pointers.
Flanigan said that after losing at Georgia, the Tigers met before their next practice.
"We talked about just improving our energy, coming out there and being more vocal in practice," Flanigan said. "Just constantly talking the whole practice while we're on defense, making sure guys are in the right spots.
"We talked about leadership, getting on guys when they're not doing what they're supposed to and not going as hard as they can. Just holding everybody accountable."
Moore said being recruited by Arkansas helped him understand the Razorbacks' style of play.
"They kind of play a freelancing system," Moore said. "They recruit those guys who can go make a play.
"They run pretty good sets, but it's mostly about just guarding our yard and winning 1-on-1 matchups."