The Auburn Tigers men’s basketball team faced an unexpected delay when an in-flight altercation among players forced their team plane to turn back to Auburn shortly after takeoff on Friday.

AUBURN, AL – JUNE 17: Auburn University located in Auburn, Alabama on June 17, 2012. Auburn University is a public research university founded in 1856.

The team was headed to Houston to face the No. 4-ranked Cougars in one of the most anticipated nonconference matchups of the season.

Auburn, currently ranked No. 11, was preparing for a high-stakes game, but the journey took an unexpected detour.

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According to multiple reports, including WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama, a dispute broke out between two players on the team shortly after the flight took off from Auburn.

In a transmission to air traffic control, the pilot reportedly described the situation, stating, “We have a bunch of basketball players fighting,” and later specified, “We had two players that got into a physical altercation, clothes were ripped.” Due to legal reasons, WBRC could not release the audio of the communication.

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The conflict reportedly escalated to the point where flight personnel decided that the safest option was to return the plane to Auburn.

FlightAware data confirms that the aircraft turned around roughly 40 minutes after departing. Despite the disruption, the situation was ultimately de-escalated, and the players were able to reboard a flight to Houston later in the day.

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Basketball analyst John Goodman, commenting on the incident, referred to the confrontation as “horseplay between players.”

ESPN further reported that the issue was resolved before any severe consequences arose. However, the incident attracted considerable attention, with Auburn’s earlier social media post captioned “liftoff” accompanied by a rocket emoji sparking a wave of jokes online after news of the scuffle broke.

The timing of the incident added drama ahead of what is expected to be a thrilling matchup.

Auburn, led by national player of the year candidate Johni Broome, comes into the game with high expectations and a 1-0 season record after defeating Vermont in their season opener on Wednesday.

The team boasts one of its strongest rosters in recent history. Houston, also 1-0, is a preseason favorite to contend for the national championship, bringing back four starters from a previous season in which they posted a 32-5 record and won the Big 12.

The Tigers and Cougars are scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, with the game set to air on ESPNU.