Meet the X-factors for Auburn basketball's championship dreams
Tahaad Pettiford and Jahki Howard could have easily gotten lost in the veteran shuffle. But these freshmen are ready to make the Tigers better right now.
Once again, two things to know: First, we are running a discount for the first week of Auburn basketball season. New subscribers can get their first 12 months at the Observer for either $4 per month or $40 for the whole year.
The Observer is planning to be at every single Auburn basketball game this season — including this weekend’s showdown in Houston and the upcoming Maui Invitational. So, if you’re looking for in-depth coverage of Bruce Pearl’s Tigers, join us for what is shaping up to be a fun campaign on the Plains.
Second, we still have a handful of Observer koozies from our early-season sale still left over. I’m going to use this off week in football to try to clear the rest of the inventory out and put that money to the basketball travel budget.
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PG/SG Tahaad Pettiford (David Gray/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — According to Bruce Pearl, between 15 and 20 percent of the top-100 freshmen in the country average double-digit points and double-digit minutes at power-conference schools.
In his 10 previous seasons at Auburn, Pearl has had five such freshmen average those numbers over the course of a whole campaign: Jabari Smith, Isaac Okoro, Mustapha Heron, Danjel Purifoy and Jared Harper. (Sharife Cooper went above and beyond those numbers, but he only played a handful of games.)
And he might already have No. 6 and No. 7 on his hands.
In both of Auburn’s blowout exhibition wins over Division I programs Furman and Florida Atlantic, former 5-star guard Tahaad Pettiford and 4-star wing Jahki Howard hit those marks.
Pettiford averaged 12.5 points, 4 assists and 2 steals per game — with just two total turnovers — and shot 5-12 from 3-point range. Howard averaged 12 points and three steals per game, topping the 20-minute mark in each contest.
“I think both are going to be real contributors for us,” Pearl said between the two exhibition victories. “They both have a different level: Speed, athleticism and jumping ability. They're absolutely going to be crowd favorites because of their athleticism. They're gonna do a lot of really good things.
“Now, they're gonna make some mistakes, because they're freshmen. But they're good. They're gonna be a big part of this team.”
It’s remarkable that Auburn is even in this position right now with Pettiford and Howard.
Pearl and his staff went all-in on experience this season, one that will feature the last of the COVID super seniors. All-American center Johni Broome is back for his fifth season of college basketball. So is Chad Baker-Mazara, Chaney Johnson, Dylan Cardwell and Chris Moore. Denver Jones is also a senior, along with new transfers Miles Kelly, JP Pegues and Ja’Heim “Turtle” Hudson.
That’s a total of nine extremely experienced college basketball players — usually more than enough to fill the roles for a preseason championship contender. Other teams in this spot have turned to redshirts or just stuck their kids at the end of their rotations.
But not Auburn. Even in a campaign that is built on established talent, the Tigers have turned to their freshmen to see if they’re ready.
If the first two competitive games of the season were any indication, they are.