Tahaad Pettiford is red hot to begin his junior season.
Through two games, Pettiford is averaging an SEC-best 22 points per game, following his 26-point performance in Monday night’s 75-53 win over Appalachian State.
“Just playing throughout our offense, knowing the shots that we were gonna get through the flow of our offense,” Pettiford said. “All week, we've just been working on those shots. They started to fall early and continued off that.”
Facing Appalachian State, Pettiford went 8-for-16 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from deep, and making all seven free-throw attempts. He finished the night with a season-high 26 points, his 20th career game scoring at least 20 points and falling just four points shy of matching his career-high 30 points.
It all started in the first three minutes for Pettiford, who scored Auburn’s first eight points of the game and went 3-for-3 in the process.
“When he sees that first one go in, his confidence continues to be through the roof,” said head coach Steven Pearl. “What I'm most pleased with is three assists, no turnovers -- seven assists, no turnovers in two games.”
Pettiford is not just productive offensively for Auburn, he’s protecting the ball. It’s impressive, considering that Pettiford also leads the team in assists early on in the season. The key for Pettiford is making the simple read and the easy pass.
“Don't try to hold onto the ball too much and over-dribble it,” Pettiford said. “That's what causes most of our turnovers, just trying to do too much. Just keep the game as simple as possible. Find open guys and get it to them.”
There’s also more depth on this year’s team, allowing Pettiford to play on better rest. He’s not played more than 25 minutes in a game this season for Auburn. Last season, in 38 games, Pettiford logged 25 minutes or less of action just three times.
“Feels better to know that I don't have to play the whole game and our bench is gonna come in there and impact the game the way they do,” Pettiford said. “Guys like George (Kimble III) and Kolby (King) just doing a great job having a spark coming off the bench, playing with a chip on their shoulder, and I know that when I come out we're not gonna fall. So just happy to see them guys doing what they do.”
It only gets tougher from here for Pettiford and the rest of the Tigers, which host No. 12 Arizona later this week.
However, as a leader on the team, Pettiford feels confident in their preparation to this point.
“That's why we played the exhibitions we did,” Pettiford said. “So just to let them know this is going to be a chippy game. First big game at home for us, and just go out there and do what we do every single day of practice, execute and play Auburn basketball and we’re gonna be fine.”
Auburn and Arizona tip off at 8 p.m. CST on Friday, Nov. 13.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
