Bruce Pearl Still Determining Auburn Tigers' Game Plan After Roster Turnover

With the amount of roster turnover Auburn Men's Basketball has seen, Bruce Pearl is still trying to figure out what he has in front of him.

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl still has a lot to figure out with his new roster. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers are just over a month away from their exhibition game against Florida Atlantic to open the 2024-25 season. So close to the start of the season, yet Bruce Pearl still has key decisions to make for the lineup this season. 

From player departures to returners changing roles, there are questions that head coach Bruce Pearl doesn’t yet know the answer to.

“I know less about this team than many of the teams I’ve coached,” Pearl said. 

Auburn has two freshmen and three transfers coming in. This will fill the spots of notable departures.  Aden Holloway, Tre Donaldson and K.D. Johnson all transferred out. Lior Berman and Jaylin Williams ran out of eligibility.

A lot of new faces mean that there are new roles to figure out for this season.

Pearl does have plans in mind for key returning players. The positions will be shuffled, and notable returning players will be taking on new roles.    

Denver Jones is expected to play point guard and shooting guard – two positions he didn’t play last season.

Johni Broome will play power forward and center. He only played 12 minutes at the power forward position and none at center last season.

Pearl also has new plans for incoming five-star recruit in Tahaad Pettiford. Pearl originally intended for him to only play off the ball. However, Pearl has grown more confident that he can take on more positions, including point guard.

Incoming transfer J.P. Pegues should provide depth at the point guard position for Auburn as well. Pearl emphasized that you never know when you’re going to need it.

“I think it definitely helps as far as depth is concerned,” Pearl said. “We’re going to play two point guards, we’ve always played two point guards. If you don’t have that third guy and one of them gets hurt, what do you do?”

The Tigers are looking to build on a season that resulted in an SEC Tournament Championship as well as make their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in a row. An upset loss to Yale in the first round sent them packing after the first round of the tournament.