Auburn coach Tony Barbee said Thursday that he expects forward Rob Chubb, while still suspended indefinitely in the wake of his Jan. 30 arrest, to play for the Tigers again this season.

“He’ll play at some point again, before the year is out,” Barbee said.

Chubb, 20, was charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct, attempting to elude a police officer and resisting arrest stemming from an incident at the corner of Genelda Avenue at Thomas Street at 1:47 a.m. on Jan. 30, according to a police report.

Minor injuries were sustained to Chubb and the arresting officer, according to the police report.

Chubb, a 6-foot-10 sophomore from Peachtree City, Ga., scored a career-high 18 points in the Tigers’ 79-64 win over South Carolina the afternoon before his arrest.

He has been suspended for the Tigers’ past two games, losses to Tennessee and Georgia.

Barbee said Chubb still has to clear some hurdles before he will be allowed to participate in team activities again.

“There’s athletic department policies in terms of arrests, and when there’s alcohol involved — different structures and things that I’m still dealing with and figuring out here,” Barbee said.

Chubb averaged 8.1 points and 4.1 rebounds in the Tigers’ first 21 games.

Adrian Forbes and Ty Armstrong, who have been filling in at power forward in Chubb’s absence, have combined to average 6.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in the past two games.

Chubb’s suspension is the latest turbulence in what has turned out to be a tumultuous first year at Auburn for Barbee, in addition to Frankie Sullivan and Armstrong’s ACL tears over the summer, recruits Shawn Kemp Jr. and Luke Cothron not qualifying academically and second-leading scorer Andre Malone’s surprise decision to leave the team in late December.

Sullivan played six games for the Tigers this year before being forced to sit out the rest of the reason with after-effects of his injury, and Malone has transferred to Rhode Island, where he hopes to play next season.

Auburn, which welcomes Mississippi State (13-10, 5-4 SEC) to Auburn Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m., is 8-15 overall and 1-8 in the SEC.

“I can’t show frustration, even though I am, with the losing,” Barbee said. “The team always feeds off of your energy as head coach. Even though the record does not reflect the amount of effort this team is putting in, I’ll keep saying this: It’s been the most rewarding year and the funnest year, because I’ve been forced to keep myself positive, which in turn has kept this group positive together.“

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