When the crowd stood for the final 40 seconds at Auburn Arena on Sunday, it must have felt like 40 minutes.

Andre Malone hit a 3-pointer with 6:28 to play in the game to give Auburn a 2-point lead Saturday.

For the second time in five days, the Auburn Arena sat in stunned silence as the visiting team rushed off its bench to celebrate in the middle of its brand-new floor.

Tony Barbee said the best thing about Monday’s exhibition loss to Columbus State was that it didn’t count in the season standings.

Auburn let West Alabama hang around for the majority of its first exhibition game last Wednesday, before putting some distance on the Division II team in the second half.

Now that Tony Barbee’s seen his team in game action for the first time, he’s got a bit of an idea how to proceed with his young group.

Josh Wallace corralled a long rebound, pushed the ball up the floor and dished off to Kenny Gabriel, who slammed the ball home.

After a turbulent offseason, new Auburn head coach Tony Barbee finally gets to see what sort of team he’ll be fielding this year.