Auburn Newcomer 'More Comfortable,' Shines in Final Preseason Game vs. Memphis

Pearl also mentioned how Jovic drew five fouls, which he said was the most of any Tiger. And not only did he get to the foul line, he also managed to capitalize, going 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

“When he uses his speed and his quickness to his advantage, he's really effective. I thought he did a really good job of really playing to his strength,” Pearl said. “So every week he's gotten more comfortable, and I think he'll continue to do so. So obviously, proud of him to see some results.”

“I thought he was very aggressive, very active. He just moves so well defensively, he does a good job of getting vertical at the rim without fouling,” Pearl added. “So just does so many little things that are really hard to coach and hard to teach, just naturally. He just kind of understands where to be on the floor at all times.”

Jovic played both the four and the five on Thursday, with center KeShawn Murphy playing limited minutes due to a knee injury that he suffered against Oklahoma State. He played 19 minutes, but despite his smaller size at 6-foot-8, he held his own against Memphis’ Aaron Bradshaw, who is five inches taller than Jovic at 7-foot-1. Bradshaw totaled 10 points, but just one rebound and boasted a minus-9 plus-minus rating.

His teammates are also noticing the positive influence he made in their blowout win on Thursday, as senior Keyshawn Hall seems to admire his work ethic and attention to detail in multiple aspects of the game.

“Filip is a dog. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t complain, he just goes out there and plays hard,” Hall said. “He's somebody that you want on your team but you hate going against. He does anything to impact winning.”

“He can do a lot of different things, especially when he's getting more comfortable. He's very versatile – he’s playing the four and the five, he’s not just playing five,” Hall continued. “So he's very versatile. He's a smaller big, but he's physical, so he's boxing out, he’s doing a bunch of the little things that you can't teach.”

After a promising performance, Jovic will likely start at the four spot on Monday for Auburn’s regular-season opener against Bethune-Cookman, with Murphy expected to start at center.