AUBURN – It’s no secret what’s expected of Auburn basketball next season.
The Tigers, coming off a campaign in which they won 26 games by double digits, are expected to contend for another SEC title in 2024-25 — whether in the regular season or in tournament play. Maybe even both. Looking bigger, fans are hoping for a trip to at least the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, a place Auburn hasn’t been since reaching the Final Four in 2019.
That’s the nature of the business when the Tigers were as good as they were last year, are returning most of their contributors, including All-American center Johni Broome, and have added at least a few impact transfers in point guard J.P. pegas (Furman) and forward Miles Kelly (Georgia Tech). This is all without mentioning five-star freshman Tahaad Pettiford.
Auburn is not without its flaws; There is no team in the country that does not fall short of the exceptions.
Here are three areas of concern for the Tigers next season:
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Jaylin Williams is not an easy player to replace
Want to know how valuable All-SEC forward Jaylin Williams was last season? Come back and take a look in coach Bruce Pearl’s face after Williams suffered what, at the time, was believed to be a serious knee injury against Kentucky in February.
Williams, who is no longer eligible, ended up missing just one game. His importance was evident throughout the season, often proving to be the X-factor. In wins, Williams averaged 13.9 points and made 63.2% of his shots, including a 47.8% rate from beyond the arc. 3 points. In losses? These numbers were 7.6, 39.1% and 10.5%, respectively.
The Tigers will rely on Chaney Johnson, a transfer from Alabama-Huntsville heading into his second season at Auburn, to replace Williams at offensive lineman; Georgia State transfer Ja’Heim Hudson will also be on the scene. Johnson improved over the final eight games of last season, averaging 17.3 points per 40 minutes. For comparison, Williams averaged 17.9 in the same stretch.
Williams was playing more — 6.5 more minutes per game — but Johnson was nearly matching his production as a backup. Auburn needs this type of performance consistently next season.
Auburn needs to help Johni Broome on the glass
Finding fault with the Tigers was difficult last year, but securing rebounds may have been the biggest problem to be highlighted. Auburn finished the season with a defensive rebounding percentage of 69.8%, according to College Basketball Analytics. That was good for 8th in the SEC and 224th among the 362 Division I teams nationwide.
Broome (25.8%) and Johnson (17.1%) were the only two players on the roster with personal defensive rebounding percentages above 15% (minimum 25 minutes total). Auburn was the only SEC team without at least three players connecting on 15% or more of the opposing team’s misses while on the floor.
The good news for the Tigers is that Kelly is an above-average rebounder for his size. He averaged 5.5 rebounds at 6-foot-3 last season, and his defensive rebound percentage stood at 15.4%.
JP Pegas must stay healthy
Injuries are a concern for all teams. This isn’t unique to Auburn.
What may be specific to Auburn, however, is the importance of their starting PG. Pegas is expected to be the starter and will be written by a mix of Denver Jones and Pettiford. Jones is a natural point guard, although he showed the ability to run the offense in limited opportunities last season.
Pettiford is extremely talented and ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 1 PG in the 2024 class, but Pearl doesn’t want to put too much responsibility on his freshman, at least not too soon. Pearl has plans for Pettiford to focus on getting buckets for himself rather than constantly involving others.
Regardless, an injury to Pegas would hurt Auburn’s rotation and leave the Tigers with questions at PG. Something similar could be said of Broome at center, of course, but that’s a given given his All-American status.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached by email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared in the Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball: Noting few areas of concern for Tigers in 2024-25
