By David Ching, special to AL.com

Auburn has played nine games this season and out-rebounded its opponent in all nine despite missing its top big man.

The Tigers have yet to play a game with 6-foot-10 center Austin Wiley or 6-foot-7 forward Danjel Purifoy as both are still sidelined while the school sorts through eligibility questions. Yet somehow a starting lineup that averaged about 6-foot-3 per game, and without last year's leading rebounder Mustapha Heron, the Tigers outrebounded UAB and made crucial plays that helped determine the outcome.



"Offensive rebounding, I thought, really sealed the game for them. That's what Auburn, in my opinion, does best," said UAB coach Robert Ehsan, whose team surrendered 14 offensive boards to the Tigers - including two key late rebounds and putbacks by Malik Dunbar. "That was the No. 1 thing on our scouting report. It's unfortunate that that's how they did it."

Keying Auburn's effort on the glass is an unlikely star rebounder: 6-3 power forward Desean Murray, whose averages of 8.0 rebounds and 3.2 offensive rebounds per game both rank among the SEC's best.

"He's a matchup problem at the four [power forward] for other people. He can drive past any four, but he can rebound over any four," Auburn guard Bryce Brown said after posting a game-high 27 points against UAB. "You just have an advantage all around at the four position with Desean there. He might be undersized, but he doesn't play like it."

Murray, a Presbyterian College transfer, is a big reason why an Auburn team that outrebounded just 10 opponents all last season ranked ninth nationally in rebounding margin (+10.9) entering Tuesday's games. The big question now is whether an Auburn lineup that features a 6-3 power forward, 6-8 Horace Spencer and Chuma Okeke and 6-7 Anfernee McLemore can keep it going once SEC play arrives.

Ehsan, whose Blazers are the only Auburn opponent thus far to rank among the nation's top 100 teams in rebounding margin, believes they can.

"I've watched a lot of basketball. We've haven't played any other SEC teams, but a lot teams in our league have. I don't think their size is going to be an issue," Ehsan said. "... To me, Murray adds a dimension that they haven't had the last two years of toughness, of grit, of defense. That, to me, is the biggest difference than in years past."



SEXTON'S SCORING IN PERSPECTIVE

Before Collin Sexton even arrived on campus, recruiting experts billed him as one of the best players ever to sign with Alabama. His scoring exploits through just 10 games explain why he enjoyed such a lofty status.



Sexton scored 30 points in Alabama's 88-82 loss to Arizona on Saturday, already giving him two games with 30-plus points in this young season. The SEC's current scoring leader, Sexton (21.8 ppg) set an Alabama freshman record with 40 points in an 89-84 loss to Minnesota last month.



To put things in perspective, only 18 Alabama players had previously enjoyed two 30-point games in a season since the early 1950s.



Only 11 Crimson Tide players -- most recently Michael Ansley in 1988-89 -- have had as many as three outings of 30-plus in a season. Sexton is ever so close to reaching that threshold, too, having scored 29 points in a 77-76 win against UT-Arlington.

Three players -- Jerry Harper (1955-56), Jack Kubiszyn (1957-58) and Reggie King (1978-79) -- share Alabama's record with six games of 30-plus points in a single season. All three Tide players made at least one All-America roster in those respective seasons.



SEC-HEAVY RUN FOR MTSU

By the time Middle Tennessee (7-1) completes its game against Auburn in Saturday's BHM JAM doubleheader in Birmingham, the Blue Raiders will have had their fill of SEC competition. So far, so good for Kermit Davis' club.



Last Wednesday, the Blue Raiders won 66-63 at Vanderbilt, and then they returned home last Saturday to beat Ole Miss 77-58. Saturday's game against Auburn (5 p.m. SEC Network) will be MTSU's third in a row against SEC competition, and a chance for a resume-building win for both clubs.



Thus far, Auburn has played only two teams that sat within the top 100 in the NCAA's RPI rankings as of Tuesday afternoon: No. 11 Temple (88-74 loss) and No. 86 Dayton (73-60 win). Likewise, MTSU - an NCAA tournament participant in three of the last five seasons - has just one top-100 win (72-67 over No. 82 Murray State) in its only such competition to date.



Whoever wins will claim their highest-quality victory to date. Middle Tennessee was ranked 12th in the NCAA RPI as of Tuesday afternoon, while Auburn was No. 59.



The Tigers and Blue Raiders will tip off at 5 p.m. (SEC Network) at the BJCC's Legacy Arena, following the 2:15 p.m. contest between UAB and Alabama A&M.



PERSON'S PLACE IN HISTORY

By going 4-for-11 from beyond the arc in Sunday's 89-71 loss to Southern Miss, Wesley Person became the first Troy player to make at least 300 shots from 3-point range in his college career.



The senior sharpshooter is now 303-for-775 all-time, giving him a 39.1 career shooting percentage from deep. He broke Rhodney Donaldson's previous school record for made 3s (269) earlier this season and will probably surpass Robert Rushing's career mark for attempted 3s (780) when the Trojans next take the court on Saturday against Arkansas.

Although Person has hit a sparkling 46.4 percent of his 3s this season, at his current rate he would still fall just short of Detirc Golden's 41.9 percent career mark, Troy's record since joining the NCAA Division I ranks.