Auburn center Johni Broome announces return to Tigers for one more season

Auburn center Johni Broome is set to return to the Tigers for another season. He announced the news Wednesday via social media.

Broome posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) holding the SEC Tournament trophy from this past season. He then saw Aubie the Tiger walk in with another trophy and said he had to “catch up,” and that’s when the text showed up to announce his decision.

“Johni Broome will return.”

By getting Broome back for one more year, Auburn will keep its leading scorer. This past season, he averaged a team-high 16.5 points while also grabbing 8.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. He participated in the NBA Combine a year ago and considered staying in the draft, but ultimately chose to return to The Plains for another go-round.

It’s been an impressive run for Broome at Auburn after starting his career at Morehead State. Head coach Bruce Pearl also spoke about what he means to the Tigers after a season-ending loss to Yale in which Broome got tangled up late.

“Johni had a great year, carried this team, particularly the offensive end, improved tremendously defensively. We rely on him a great deal,” Pearl said. “He’s one of the best centers in all of college basketball as an All-American.”

Johni Broome’s return adds to good news for Auburn

In addition to Broome’s return, Auburn also made a splash in the transfer portal by landing former Furman point guard JP Pegues. The No. 32 overall player in the On3 Industry Team Transfer Rankings, he averaged 18.4 points this past season for the Paladins before opting to take his talents elsewhere. He officially signed with the program this week.

“JP is a winner,” Pearl said in a statement. “He is a scoring point guard that has great ability to shoot the basketball. He can score at all three levels, defend and lead. Talking to several great coaches in the SoCon, they unanimously believed he was the best player in their league this season.
 
“We have demonstrated a great ability to get into the high levels of mid-major basketball and the transition to Auburn has been great for those who have transferred to our program including Johni Broome, Wendell Green Jr., Denver Jones and Zep Jasper. Associate Head Coach Steven Pearl and the staff did an outstanding job of evaluating talent in the transfer portal. This is a great first step in rebuilding our roster.”