Tahaad Pettiford is built for big games — and he's just getting started
In games against top-six opponents, the freshman is averaging 18.3 PPG and shooting 52.4% from deep. It's only December.
PG/SG Tahaad Pettiford (Steven Leonard/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — Cameron Indoor Stadium is the most feared road environment in college basketball, if not all of college sports.
The student section is, famously, as close to the floor as possible. “The Crazies” spend every minute any opposing player is in the gymnasium booing, screaming and chanting with the sole goal of just trying to get into their heads.
On Wednesday night, Auburn was in the crosshairs. When the Tigers hit the floor for their final warmups before tipoff, the sound was deafening.
Most players don’t pay any attention to it — or at least act like they don’t. But, in the middle of all of that, a freshman guard wearing the No. 0 jersey was smiling and laughing.
In the face of total intimidation, Tahaad Pettiford was radiating pure joy.
And why should he get rattled? He is, quite literally, built different.
“He's kind of a Jersey point guard, if you will,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said Friday. “Sharife Cooper was a Jersey point guard. They grew up fast. They played at Rucker Park. They've played in Jersey City. They've played in some tough neighborhoods.
“And so, therefore, they're just not afraid.”
Auburn would end up losing by six to a Duke team that has the most size in the country and might just have the most talent in the country.
But that was through no fault of Pettiford. He was a huge reason why Auburn was able to stay competitive all the way with Duke. He scored 20 points — hitting four 2-pointers and four 3-pointers — with three assists and just one turnover.
And this was the first true road game of his career.
“I tell you what: Tahaad Pettiford is representing all of those young New York, New Jersey point guards that have great skill,” Pearl said.
Pettiford is currently the only non-senior firmly in the rotation for an Auburn team that has faced the fourth-toughest schedule in all of college basketball. He should be a small fish swimming in a sea of sharks.
Instead, Pettiford has saved his very best for the biggest moments.