There were no signs of LeBron James Sunday, despite his oldest son Bronny James appearing in his second college basketball game as a freshman with the USC Trojans, who fell to the Tigers 91-75.

But you know who was there?

Charles Barkley. But surely you guessed that as the Auburn basketball icon still frequents Neville Arena.

Kyle Korver was there, too, likely making the trip from Atlanta, where he serves as the assistant general manager for the Atlanta Hawks. Korver was previously teammates with LeBron James as they both played with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Meanwhile, former Duke Blue Devil and Chicago Bull Jay Williams was on site to call the game for ESPN.

And while those are all notable names, the spotlight shouldn’t be on them, the son of a very good basketball player or the fact that said very good basketball player never showed up.

Instead, the spotlight should be on two very different things: the showing of Auburn’s student section and the presence of Auburn’s coveted football recruits.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl expressed concerns early in the week that with classes being out for the holidays, Auburn’s student section, affectionately known as The Jungle, might be sparse.

To that point, Auburn’s students lined up outside Neville Arena as early as 4:30 in the morning and packed the student-section bleachers well before tipoff.

“Where else are the student sections standing in line to get into the game on Christmas break?,” Pearl said of The Jungle’s showing.

In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Yahoo Sports called the student section’s showing “The Bronny Effect.”

And that sparked a social media uproar from Tigers fans, who knew the scene outside Neville Arena wasn’t “The Bronny Effect” but was rather the result of “The Bruce Effect.”

Sunday’s showing looked no different than the one outside Neville Arena anytime the Tigers play a game of essentially any magnitude.

And that’s the result of Pearl building a basketball following in a football state — something that’s much easier said than done. Heck, Pearl is 10 years in and it’s still growing.

That said, even at big basketball games, Auburn fans are going to remind you that the state of Alabama is, in fact, a football state.

When Auburn’s students arrived at Neville Arena Sunday, they did so armed with signage, which was used to lobby for Hugh Freeze’s recruiting efforts. Auburn fans knew notable recruits would be present and used the big game as leverage.

Mention of the “Freeze 5″ has made its rounds on social media referring to Auburn’s four blue-chip wide receiver commits Bryce Cain, Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons and Perry Thompson. The fifth piece is Alabama’s 5-star wide receiver commit Ryan Williams, who has consistently been recruited by Freeze and the Tigers despite his pledge to Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

Coleman, Simmons and Thompson were all at Neville Arena Sunday afternoon.

So was Williams, who canceled his visit to Tuscaloosa to be on The Plains for Auburn’s game against USC.

And Auburn’s student section – featuring members of Auburn’s football team like Damari Alston, Jarquez Hunter, Jaylin Simpson and Kam Stutts – didn’t allow Williams’ presence to go unnoticed.

Not even 10 minutes of play time had expired before the Tigers’ student section, led by Auburn’s football players, started a “We want Ryan!” chant.

Williams, flanked by members of Auburn’s current football roster, stayed plastered to the front of Auburn’s student section, which did its best to make the coveted wide receiver target feel at home.

Reactions from Williams seemed to have proved the efforts were working as he laughed with Auburn players and students.

Minutes later, the focus of the chant shifted to Georgia cornerback transfer and former 5-star AJ Harris, who has spent the weekend in Auburn after announcing his intentions to transfer on Friday evening.

Having such talent on The Plains Sunday – committed elsewhere or not – wasn’t the result of “The Bronny Effect” either.

Around these parts, they call that “The Freeze Effect.”

The truth of the matter is this: Prior to the arrival of Freeze, who also made his way to the game Sunday, hosting such prospects was a long shot for the Tigers — let alone getting them to cancel their visits to Tuscaloosa to come to a Sunday afternoon basketball game.

But now it’s an expectation — just like having a long line of students waiting outside Neville Arena on game days.

And contrary to what some might argue, Bronny James isn’t wearing a hard hat — he isn’t helping build these programs on The Plains.

That distinction goes to Bruce Pearl and Hugh Freeze.