MSU's Moultrie will be a challenge for Auburn

Tony Barbee was curt on the subject on Arnett Moultrie.

“He’s playing well,” the Auburn coach said.

Barbee recruited Moultrie, a Memphis native, to UTEP before the 2008 season and coached him for two seasons there.

The 6-foot-11 power forward averaged 9.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in 70 games under Barbee, then sought a transfer when the coach left for Auburn.

He even had notions of following Barbee.

“He visited here officially. And he was released here,” Barbee said brusquely.

But Moultrie ended up at Mississippi State and, after sitting out a year, has turned into one of the top players in the SEC, averaging 16.8 points per game and a league-leading 11.3 rebounds.

So why didn’t Moultrie choose Auburn?

“No idea,” Barbee said. “No idea.”

Barbee, if he doesn’t harbor bitter feelings from Moultrie’s re-recruitment, is at least loath to revisit it.

While Moultrie has teamed with 6-10 center Renardo Sidney to make one of the best frontcourts in the league for the Bulldogs, Auburn has struggled maintaining any sort of consistent interior presence.

Center Rob Chubb can’t seem to escape from foul trouble and can go from 15 points and 12 rebounds one night to one point and seven rebounds the next.

Adrian Forbes is a defensive specialist but an offensive liability, and freshman Willy Kouassi hasn’t progressed enough for Barbee to be able to rely on him for serious minutes in SEC play.

Kenny Gabriel, the Tigers’ leading rebounder at 7.9 per game, makes most of his living above the rim, not clogging up the lane.

Gabriel said Barbee has challenged he, Forbes and Chubb to combine for at least 25 rebounds against Mississippi State.

“We’ve got to box out, and our bigs are going to have to dominate the glass,” Gabriel said. “That’s what Coach has been begging us and asking us to do every single game. When they take 3s or whatever, some guards are going to have to come back and help us rebound, because, the big front line that they have, we’re probably not going to be able to get to every single rebound that comes off the rim.”

The last time Auburn faced a front line comparable to the Bulldogs’ did not work out so well for the Tigers.

Tennessee’s Jeronne Maymon (6-7) and Jarnell Stokes (6-8) – while undersized – used their mass effectively and helped the Volunteers outrebound the Tigers, 53-30, in the teams’ meeting last Saturday.

Stokes, who grabbed six rebounds, also had the task of sealing Chubb off the boards, letting Maymon loose to pull down 19 rebounds of his own.

“We’re going to have to do a good job of what I call ‘gang rebounding,’” Barbee said. “We all have to block out when the shot goes up, be accountable for our man, and then we’re all going to have to go after the ball, wherever it is. We can’t just wait for it to come to our area.”

Of course, the Bulldogs’ talent runs deeper than their frontcourt.

Point guard Dee Bost averages 15.9 points and 4.6 assists per game, and guards Rodney Hood and Brian Bryant are capable of going on scoring sprees at any time.

Reserve guard Jalen Steele, an Auburn signee under Jeff Lebo before Barbee took over and he was released from his scholarship, also provides a punch off the bench for the Bulldogs.

“They’re amongst the top three or four most talented teams in our league with their top six or seven guys,” Barbee said. “They don’t have a deep rotation, but the seven or eight they play are as talented as any in the league, and they’re playing extremely well at home.”

Auburn, which is 0-4 on the road in the SEC this season, is still looking for its first conference road win since a comeback victory at LSU to end the regular season last year.

“It would be a great deal for us to go and steal a road win,” guard Frankie Sullivan said. “That’s something that’s been on our resume that we’ve been trying to accomplish. I think that we'll get it sooner than later.”