The 2024-2025 college basketball season is here. The No. 11 Maroon tigers will open the season against the Vermont Catamounts at home at Neville Arena on Wednesday evening.
The Tigers went down Furman 83-62 on the road in Greenville, SC on October 27 to pick up a 102-70 victory Florida Atlantic Ocean home on Friday evening.
The Tigers were not at full strength against Furman. Miles Kelly, a guard who transferred from Georgia Tech to Auburn during the offseason, was unavailable due to illness.
Kelly returned for the exhibition against Florida Atlantic. In 20 minutes of action, he and Johni Broome led Auburn in scoring with 15 points and also recorded five rebounds and one assist. He shot 4-of-8 (50%) from the field, 3-of-7 (42.8%) from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
However, another member of the Tigers went down against Florida Atlantic. Freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford left the game midway through the second half with an ankle injury.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl confirmed that Pettiford should be able to go for Auburn’s season opener against Vermont.
“He (Pettiford) should be fine,” Pearl said. “He should be fine, he just sprained his ankle I think.”
In 16 minutes on the floor against Florida Atlantic, Pettiford scored 12 points, making him one of six Tigers to post double figures, and had three rebounds, five assists and one steal. He shot 3-for-7 from the field, 2-for-5 from the arc and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line.
Both of Auburn’s freshmen, Pettiford and forward Jahki Howard, impressed in both of Auburn’s exhibitions.
According to the recruit, Pettiford was a five-star prospect 247Sports. The 6-foot-2 native of Jersey City, NJ, who attended Hudson Catholic High School (NJ), was the No. 29 player in the class of 2024, the No. 2 point guard and the No. 3 player from New Jersey.
Auburn and Vermont will tip off Wednesday at 7:00 PM CT. The television broadcast can be found on SEC Network.