1978–79 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team

1978–79 Auburn Tigers men's basketball
Big Sun Tournament champions
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Record13–16 (5–13 SEC)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Captains
  • Bubba Price
  • Rich Valavicius
Home arenaMemorial Coliseum
1978–79 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
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.