Film Room: Small Guard, Big Week

Wendell Green Jr. overcame a short, injury-impacted slump in a huge way, generating plenty of offense in Auburn's back-to-back rivalry wins.

PG Wendell Green Jr. (Matthew Shannon/Auburn Athletics)

During the second half of No. 1 Auburn’s 55-54 escape against Missouri two weeks ago, Wendell Green Jr. went knee-to-knee with a defender and left the game.

Green would later return, but he scored just six points in Columbia — marking the end of what was a remarkable 11-game streak inside double-digits.

A few days later against Oklahoma, Green played a season-low 17 minutes and shot just 1-8 from the field for two points. Green would later say that he got “hit in the head” toward the beginning of that game, which “messed (him) up.”

In the days between Auburn’s win over Oklahoma and a massive rivalry matchup with Alabama, Green said his teammates told him to get back to his old self. And that was reinforced the day before the game, when Green was named one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award — which is given to the best point guard in college basketball.

Green immediately lived up to that honor. He scored a game-high 23 points against Alabama while adding eight rebounds and six assists. In a game that featured great performances from Alabama star guards Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford, Green was the best backcourt player on the floor.

“You want to be the best? You’ve got to go against the best,” Bruce Pearl said after Auburn’s 100-81 win over Alabama. “Those (Alabama) guys, I believe, were both first- or second-team all-conference in the preseason. None of our guards were first, second, third, fifth team. … I think Wendell was excited about playing tonight.”

Four days later, Green returned to the starting lineup for the first time since he was held scoreless in a 58-52 win over South Florida, Auburn’s third game of the season. Green had been an elite point guard off the bench, still posting top-level stats and minutes played without being in the starting five each night.

But Auburn needed Green to start Saturday against Georgia, as Zep Jasper was scratched from the lineup due to a non-COVID illness. He delivered again, scoring 19 points — second only to K.D. Johnson on Auburn’s roster — and hitting a game-winning layup with 3.3 seconds left.

“We just got winners, you know?” Green said after Auburn’s 74-72 win over Georgia. “No matter what the circumstance is, we believe in each other. We’re 22-1 for a reason. We got winners. We believe we can win it against any team in the country, and we got big-time players that are going to make big-time plays.”

In SEC play, Auburn has gotten tremendous value from plenty of pieces in its lineup, particularly star center Walker Kessler. But Green would give him a run for his money.

According to CBB Analytics, the difference in Auburn’s net rating with Green on the floor compared to him off the floor in SEC play is +16.9, which leads the team. Auburn’s offensive rating increases by +13.2 when Green is on the floor, and the second-closest impact is Kessler at +7.5.

Against conference opponents, Green is averaging a team-best 15.4 points per game. He is also averaging 5.3 assists per game and has an assist percentage of 35.5% — both of which sit in the 99th percentile of Division I. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.3, which is in the 93rd percentile nationally.

PG Wendell Green Jr. (Matthew Shannon/Auburn Athletics)

Green is instant offense for Auburn, and he provides it in a number of ways. Against Alabama last week, he scored 23 points and was the assist man on 14 more points, meaning he generated 37% of Auburn’s total scoring output. Against Georgia, it was 19 points scored and seven points assisted on, putting him at 35.1% of the offensive production.

As a scorer and a playmaker, Green is responsible for more than a third of Auburn’s point production on most nights. According to CBB Analytics, five of the Tigers’ top seven assister-scorer combinations involve Green — to Kessler (first), Jabari Smith (second), Jaylin Williams (fourth), Devan Cambridge (sixth) and Johnson (seventh).

Green’s excellent week, where he was responsible for 66 points across two wins over Auburn’s two biggest rivals, showcased what makes him such a dangerous offensive weapon and an extremely valuable piece to the Tigers’ massive success this season.

One of the best ways to describe Green’s offensive impact is “lethal simplicity.” It’s not anything fancy or out of the ordinary — it just gets results, over and over again.