It’s up to Auburn’s players to tell coach Tony Barbee when they need to come out.

If you’re out there, Barbee reasons, you’re expected to give as much as you can for as long as you can and — once you feel yourself start to slip — it’s up to you to motion to the bench for a replacement.

If Barbee has to take you out, that’s when the trouble starts.

“He feels like if you’re going to break down, or if you know you’re going to break down, you need to get yourself out of the game before you actually break down,” senior forward Kenny Gabriel said. “When you break down on two, three or four possessions, he’s going to get you out and he’s not going to put you back in until he’s ready.”

Toughness and effort, it seems, are still sticking points for Barbee as he enters his second season with the Tigers, starting with Friday’s home opener against McNeese State at 7 p.m.

But while the attitude — and most of the faces — remain the same for Auburn this year, the possibilities seem to have opened up a bit now that the players have had a year in Barbee’s system.

For one, the coach expects his playing rotation to be deeper and be able to show more varieties to opposing teams than last year.

Like, say, a big lineup with 6-foot-10 Rob Chubb and Adrian Forbes and Gabriel — both 6-8 — to go along with two guards.

Or four guards, with a big guy in the middle.

“That’s one of the things I like about this team. We’ve got a lot of versatility,” Barbee said. “We’ve worked on a lot of different lineups. That (four-guard lineup) creates lineup nightmares. The only thing I didn’t like out of that lineup is how we rebounded.”

This versatility in lineups also necessitates versatility in players like 6-2 shooting guard Chris Denson, who’s having to play small forward in some of the Tigers’ sets this year.

It’s definitely a change for Denson, whose role last season didn’t involve much past serving as instant offense off the bench.

“All my teammates, they push me, because I know I’m not the best defensive guy,” Denson said. “I’ve got to play guys that are 6-5, 220, I’m going to have to guard him. So I’m going to have to box him out. You’ve just got to adjust.”

With holdovers like Denson and Gabriel supplementing transfer guard Varez Ward and a healthy Frankie Sullivan, the Tigers are also hoping to be a more consistent offensive team this year.

But, like everything else on his squad, Barbee wants that offensive production to come from hustle: pressing, forcing turnovers, getting fast breaks and pushing the tempo.

“Points and scoring can come and go,” Barbee said. “There’s so many things you can do to affect the outcome of the game by doing the things you can do consistently — how hard you play defensively, not breaking down, getting assists, getting rebounds, getting steals, taking charges, diving for loose balls.

“That’s how I grade the game.”

And, of course, by how good his players are at pushing themselves to the brink of bursting.

“I’ve gotten used to it, but I think with some other people it’s hard to sub yourself out because you want to be out there playing and trying to help your team win,” Gabriel said. “I think as the course of the season goes on, I think everybody will get used to subbing themselves.”

McNeese State (0-0) at Auburn (0-0)
WHERE: Auburn Arena
WHEN: 7 p.m.
RADIO/TV: WKKR (96.7 FM)/None

PROJECTED STARTERS, McNEESE STATE*: F Patrick Richard, 6-4, Sr. (16.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.5 apg); F Will Brown, 6-9, Jr. (sat out last year); C Rudy Turner, 6-9, Sr. (sat out last year); G Jeremie Mitchell, 6-3, Jr. (5.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.4 apg); G Dontae Cannon, 6-1, Jr. (3.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.8 apg)

PROJECTED STARTERS, AUBURN*: F Kenny Gabriel, 6-8, Sr. (10.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 0.9 bpg); C Rob Chubb, 6-10, Jr. (7.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.7 bpg); G Varez Ward, 6-2, So. (sat out last year); G Chris Denson, 6-2, So. (5.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.0 apg); G Frankie Sullivan, 6-1, Jr. (8.2 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 3.0 apg)

NOTABLE
—Josh Langford and Tony Neysmith are still suspended indefinitely from games.
—Barbee coached against Brown, a New Mexico transfer, when the coach was at UTEP.
—McNeese State returns one starter — Richard — from its Southland Conference winning team last year.
* - Stats from last season.