1978–79 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1978–79 Auburn Tigers men's basketball

Big Sun Tournament champions
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	13–16 (5–13 SEC)
Head coach	Sonny Smith (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Herbert Greene Mack McCarthy Herman Williams
Captains	Bubba Price (1st year) Rich Valavicius (1st year)
Home arena	Memorial Coliseum
Seasons← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 LSU	14	–	4	.778	23	–	6	.793
Tennessee †	12	–	6	.667	21	–	12	.636
Vanderbilt	11	–	7	.611	18	–	9	.667
Alabama	11	–	7	.611	22	–	11	.667
Mississippi State	11	–	7	.611	19	–	9	.679
Kentucky	10	–	8	.556	19	–	12	.613
Georgia	7	–	11	.389	14	–	14	.500
Ole Miss	6	–	12	.333	11	–	16	.407
Auburn	5	–	13	.278	13	–	16	.448
Florida	3	–	15	.167	8	–	19	.296

† 1979 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 1978–79 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team represented Auburn University in the 1978–79 college basketball season.

Auburn began the year with newly-hired Paul Lambert as head coach, but Lambert died in a hotel fire in Columbus, Georgia on June 6, 1978 before ever coaching a game. Sonny Smith from East Tennessee State was hired as coach.

The team played their home games at Memorial Coliseum in Auburn, Alabama. They finished the season 13–16, 5–13 in SEC play. They defeated Vanderbilt and Georgia to advance to the semifinals of the SEC tournament where they lost to Tennessee.

Roster

1978–79 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	3	Taylor Hart	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Eufaula High School	Eufaula, AL
G	4	Lewis Card	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Auburn High School	Auburn, AL
G	11	Mark Barnhizer	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Lapel High School	Lapel, IN
F	14	Roy McGrew	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Fairfield High School	Fairfield, AL
G	21	Bubba Price	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Carver High School	Birmingham, AL
G	22	Eric Stringer	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Oxford High School	Hobson City, AL
G	25	Kirk Powers	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	Sr	Auburn High School	Auburn, AL
F	41	Benny Anthony	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	Bainbridge High School	Bainbridge, GA
F	42	Rich Valavicius	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Hammond High School	Hammond, IN
F	44	Earl Banks	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	So	Holy Family High School	Birmingham, AL
C	45	Bobby Cattage	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	So	J.O. Johnson High School	Huntsville, AL
C	54	Jeff Adams	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Sr	Lake Weir High School	Weirsville, AL

Head coach

Sonny Smith

Assistant coach(es)

Herbert Greene
Mack McCarthy
Herman Williams

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

References

sports-reference.com 1978-79 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
"1978-79 Auburn Tigers Schedule and Results". Retrieved April 18, 2019.
"1979 Southeastern Conference tournament program". March 1979. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

v t e Auburn Tigers men's basketball
Venues	The Gymnasium (1906–1916) Alumni Gymnasium (1916–1946) Auburn Sports Arena (1946–1969) Beard–Eaves–Memorial Coliseum (1969–2010) Neville Arena (2010–present)
Rivalries	Alabama UAB
Culture & lore	Aubie The Jungle
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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