Key Takeaways After Auburn Tigers Dominate Jackson State

Kaden Magwood’s day was also quite impressive, though it doesn’t quite show up in the points column. Magwood shot 3-for-6 for six total points, but he also led the Tigers in assists with eight.

Against Houston, Auburn struggled to turn turnovers into offensive points. Against their opposing Tigers on Wednesday, though, that didn’t seem to be an issue. The Tigers managed 39 points off turnovers, including 27 on fast breaks.

If the Tigers can keep this momentum going, both on offense and defense, they’ll be able to emulate the 2024 Tigers, who were also forced to play a few games without their top scorer in Johni Broome.

Depth isn’t Dead

The 2024 Auburn Final Four team made waves throughout SEC basketball largely due to the immense depth of its roster. It seemed like every time a player was substituted out of the game, an equal or better player took their place, and Steven Pearl has decided to make that quality a norm.

52 of 112 of Auburn points came from the bench, with players like Simon Walker and Filip Jović headlining the Tigers’ bench production. This is an especially impressive feat for a Tiger team that’s returning just one scholarship player in guard Tahaad Pettiford. 

If the Tigers can keep this level of bench production consistent throughout the season, they’ll be a difficult force to stop. 

The Future is Bright

A big concern coming into this season is that the Tigers would struggle since the team had a much younger roster than in previous years. Wednesday night, the young squad proved that their collegiate inexperience paled in comparison to their talent.

Simon Walker didn’t miss a shot the entire game. He shot five three-point shots and drained all of them, and never attempted a shot from inside the arc. 

Walker managed 15 points in just seven minutes on the court, Filip Jović was second in points for the Tigers, and Kaden Magwood led the Tigers in assists, proving that the latest Auburn recruiting class has the team in good hands.

Sophomore Elyjah Freeman, fresh off a SportsCenter top play of the week, missed just a single shot en route to a 14-point performance, but Tahaad Pettiford had a cold night, scoring just six. 

If the Tigers can keep up this level of performance from its young talent, the team is likely to set themselves up well not just for this season, but for potentially he next three years. 

Auburn will look to keep this forward momentum going this coming Monday, when they’ll travel to Oregon to face the Ducks.

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