Report: In-flight altercation causes diversion of plane carrying Auburn's men's basketball team.

On Saturday, Auburn and Houston will compete in a basketball matchup between top programs, but it seems that one team became overly boisterous before the game even started.

According to reports, an argument between players on Auburn's plane caused the pilot to make a U-turn.

A plane carrying the Auburn men's basketball team was diverted to Auburn after the pilot reported that there were "a bunch of basketball players fighting" several minutes into the flight.

An emergency landing in Montgomery was requested by staff, but the plane landed in Auburn 40 minutes after takeoff instead.

No response was immediately received from the university regarding the incident, and no confirmation was given.

No punches were thrown, but "guys got in each other's faces," according to another report.

According to FlightAware, a "diverted" flight departed from Auburn airport at 2:50 p.m. local time and arrived at 3:30 p.m. The website indicates that the last flight from Auburn to Houston on Friday was scheduled to depart at 6:55 p.m. and land one hour and 53 minutes later.

According to FlightAware, three other flights with the same route had no issues earlier in the day.

The Cougars are ranked fourth in the country, while Auburn comes in at eleventh.

In the 2024 March Madness tournament, the No. 4 seed Tigers were eliminated in the first round by No. 13 Yale. Similarly, last year, No. 1 seed Houston was knocked out in the Sweet 16 by No. 4 Duke.

In 2023, No. 1 seed Auburn was knocked off by the Cougars in the second round.

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