Pro Day Observations: It's full speed ahead for Auburn basketball
On Wednesday, the Tigers got word that Keyshawn Hall and Tahaad Pettiford are indeed staying — and they put on a show for NBA scouts.
AUBURN — One week ago, Steven Pearl was formally introduced as Auburn basketball’s new head coach.
Two weeks from now, he’ll coach his first game in the permanent role, when the Tigers face Oklahoma State in an exhibition game at historic Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham.
Wednesdays are turning out to be big days for the program. This one was the biggest so far — and it wasn’t because there were scouts from 20-plus NBA teams in attendance at Neville Arena.
No, Pearl found out that Auburn should be at full strength heading into the season. Even with the transfer portal open for any Tigers after the sudden retirement of Bruce Pearl, Auburn got verbal confirmations from arguably its top two players that they would not be looking elsewhere.
“Both Tahaad (Pettiford) and Keyshawn Hall told the team today that they were planning on coming back and being at Auburn this year and not entering the transfer portal,” Steven Pearl said after practice Wednesday. “And they wanted to stick it out with this group this year — in addition to the other guys on scholarship who have given us their pledges. This is what they want to do.
“So, I think, really good news for the program today is that we’re going to be able to keep this group together for the upcoming season, and all the guys that we had this summer are going to be putting on an Auburn jersey this year.”
As Pearl joked Wednesday, it’s “just been a normal first week on the job.” Auburn needed to begin final preseason preparations with a new-look roster last week, but the coaching change opened the door for last-minute departures.
And that was still up in the air until Wednesday.