men’s basketball roster

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Breaking down Auburn’s likely completed men’s basketball roster

Published: May. 29, 2024, 6:32 a.m.

7–9 minutes

Bruce Pearl gives offseason updates on Auburn Basketball during his charity golf event Monday

With the weekend commitment of Georgia Tech transfer guard Miles Kelly, Auburn and head coach Bruce Pearl have now filled out the spots from all the key departures off the 2023-24 basketball team.

Gone are transfers Aden Holloway, Tre Donaldson and K.D. Johnson as well as Lior Berman and Jaylin Williams who were out of eligibility. Carter Sobera, a walk-on who earned a scholarship in the middle of the 2023-24 season, will not return next season after his graduation from Auburn. Auburn has now replaced the initial five departures and will likely leave what was Sobera’s scholarship open, just as it did last year leaving one spot open heading into the season.

Division I basketball teams are allowed 13 scholarship spots. Auburn has filled 12 as things stand with, again, the good likelihood of leaving the final spot open.

How does that break down? Here’s a first look at Auburn’s 12 scholarship players on the 2024-25 men’s basketball roster.

Guards (5)

No. 0 Tahaad Pettiford

Pettiford is Auburn’s highest-ranked incoming freshman and the fifth-highest-rated signee in Auburn’s history per 247Sports. Pettiford doesn’t appear likely to be a starter right away given Auburn’s roster construction, but will be one of Auburn’s most used bench pieces. Pettiford is rated as the top point guard in the 2024 high school class, but Pearl doesn’t plan to use him as a pure point guard. He described Pettiford as a “scorer” and that he plans to use Pettiford off the ball, at least early on.

No. 1 JP Pegues

Auburn brought JP Pegues as its top player out of the transfer portal to take on the starting point guard spot. Pegues comes to Auburn from Furman where he scored 18.4 points per game last season. He takes over a spot that was largely used in rotation by Aden Holloway who transferred to Alabama and Tre Donaldson who transferred to Michigan. Neither were consistent or high-volume scorers, and Pearl sought a player like Pegues who brings that more ball-dominant, different style of play.

No. 2 Denver Jones

The only thing Denver Jones is changing is his jersey number from 12 to 2. Jones is locked in as Auburn’s shooting guard, and may play some point guard situationally, as he did during the 2023-24 season, too. Jones scored 9.1 points per game last season for Auburn and started 33 games. He scored 10 or more points in seven of Auburn’s final eight games of the season including making seven 3-pointers against Georgia on March 9.

No. 10 Chad Baker-Mazara

Baker-Mazara’s season ended controversially with his ejection against Yale in Auburn’s eventual first-round NCAA Tournament loss. He faced significant backlash online which led Pearl to publicly stand up for Baker-Mazara in his end-of-season press conference. Baker-Mazara chose to return, and will likely be a part of Auburn’s starting lineup as a wing after working his way into a consistent starting spot at the end of the 2023-24 season. He averaged 10 points per game last season.

Miles Kelly

Kelly is the newest edition that completes Auburn’s roster. Technically, Kelly has not signed with Auburn as of May 28, but assuming he follows through on his commitment, Kelly completes Auburn’s search to replace the three guards it lost. Auburn worked through several options and had some top targets pick different destinations before ultimately ending with Kelly. Kelly was productive for Georgia Tech last season, leading the team with 13.9 points per game. Pearl said he wanted the guard in the slot Kelly ultimately committed in to be someone in competition for playing time, and that will likely come off Auburn’s bench with the ability to competently fill in a larger role if a situation designated it.

Forwards (5)

No. 3 Jahki Howard

Howard is Auburn’s second incoming freshman. He’ll likely also be in a depth role off the bench, but the extent of which is hard to judge in May. Howard was a four-star high school recruit in 2024 who is Auburn’s clear future on the wing at 6-foot-6. He’ll get a good taste of SEC basketball early in Auburn’s rotation.

No. 5 Chris Moore

Possibly Auburn’s best defensive player, Chris Moore is back for one final season at Auburn. Moore saw his playing time dwindle at the end of the 2023-24 season and ultimately lost his starting spot. Moore’s production is best guarding and isn’t going to be scoring any large numbers. That’s just not his role. But because of his defense, Moore is a crucial part of Auburn’s rotation.

No. 23 Addarin Scott

Auburn brought in Scott as a top junior college transfer last offseason. In his first year at Auburn, Scott was part of Auburn’s scout team and appeared in the closing minutes of a game for Auburn 15 times this season. Scott was important at Auburn practices playing the role of some of the more athletic big men Auburn faced last season. Hard to say in May whether he’ll have more minutes in games this season or if his reserve role stays identical.

No. 31 Chaney Johnson

Chaney Johnson took over as Auburn’s starting power forward last season when Jaylin Williams missed time with a knee injury late in the season. Could he keep the starting spot with Williams gone now? Possibly. Auburn has some rotational questions at its two front-court starting spots. But what did Pearl clearly signal with his moves in the transfer portal? He has a lot of faith in Johnson going into the 2024-25 season. That faith will be seen in a larger share of minutes and role next year. That faith also complicated matters for Auburn in the portal.

Ja’Heim Hudson

Because Pearl implicitly showed such a vote of confidence in Johnson, it became difficult to find a transfer portal forward who had Division I experience but also was willing to accept a depth role behind players like Johnson and Auburn’s other established big men. Pearl found Hudson after a long portal search. Hudson played 15.2 minutes per game and scored 5.4 points per game at SMU last season. He played in 31 games and started one. He fits the niche role Auburn needed. He has signed but had not yet been added to Auburn’s online roster.

Centers (2)

No. 4 Johni Broome

Not much to discuss. Broome is Auburn’s best player and a returning All-American. He is Auburn’s biggest scoring producer. He will likely be Auburn’s starting center in his return to Auburn for his final year of eligibility. BAuburn’s biggest offseason win. If anything could change, it could be rotating Broome more into a power forward spot, too, as it may help his NBA case. Time will answer that question.

No. 44 Dylan Cardwell

Auburn managed to bring back Cardwell too for his final season. Hard to imagine his role changing either. Whether he plays more together on the court with Broome is the same question addressed above. Auburn tried it a bit more when Williams wasn’t healthy. Broome is the constant. The rotation around him will be Pearl’s strategy question this summer.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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