Emeka Opurum to miss remainder of 2025-26 season for Auburn
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Auburn basketball center Emeka Opurum will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season, Tigers head coach Steven Pearl announced on Saturday. The Tigers cited a medical condition as the driving factor for the decision.
“Our priority is Emeka’s health and well-being,” Pearl said in a release on Saturday. “We look forward to Emeka making a full recovery and returning next season.”
Opurum transferred in from Butler Community College in Kansas and has mostly played a reserve role for the Tigers. He did not play in the season opener, but dropped 11 points with 4 rebounds against Merrimack on November 6. He combined to total 12 points and 11 rebounds across his next 5 games following this strong outing.
As mentioned, Opurum largely played a reserve role for the Tigers, which means Auburn will need to fill about 5 minutes on the court without Opurum. The obvious candidate to earn those minutes is Sebastian Williams-Adams and Filip Jovic, who are both averaging around 20 minutes per game through the first month of the season.
Auburn basketball had a chaotic start to the season, but the team has scored some important wins in non-conference play. Despite losing to Houston, Michigan and Arizona — all top 15 teams — the Tigers can boast wins over St. John’s and NC State, with an important matchup still to come against Purdue before the start of SEC play.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
