Bruce Pearl 'very comfortable' with Auburn basketball's new-look backcourt
ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — Despite the loss of point guard Wendell Green Jr., Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl is “very comfortable” with what the Tigers’ backcourt will look like for the 2023-24 season.
“I feel very comfortable with Aden, Tre, K.D., Denver, we have a chance to add another one. I feel really good about our backcourt,” Pearl said on Monday at the Bruce Pearl For The Children golf tournament.
THE PLAYERS: Auburn will feature two new players at the one and two positions, and possible three new players among the one, two and three positions on the floor.
- Sophomore Tre Donaldson returns, with incoming McDonald’s All-American Aden Holloway joining him. Transfer Denver Jones is signed and joins returner K.D. Johnson at the two guard position.
- Jones was one of only a handful of transfer portal players to average over 20 points per game last season, doing so at Florida International.
- If Auburn can land Vanderbilt transfer Tyrin Lawrence, he would join Lior Berman and Chris Moore (who can play the three and four positions), giving Auburn three new players playing major roles in the backcourt.
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HOLLOWAY COMING IN HOT: Holloway finished as the No. 17 player in the On3 Sports Consensus player rankings and a four-star prospect. He’s the second-highest rated combo guard in the nation.
- “His rankings have gone up. He’s gotten bigger, he’s competed well at those higher levels. That’s what we would hope. We would hope that a guy we signed or committed, a year later would show he’s moving up the rankings. That shows you we made the right decision there,” Pearl said.
DONALDSON AND HOLLOWAY COMPETITION INCOMING: Pearl expects Holloway and Donaldson to have “tremendous competition” this summer and into the fall. “They’re both going to play, and the good thing is both are good with and without the ball. That’s going to be fun to watch. There’s going to be great competition at every position,” Pearl said.
Bruce Pearl, Tigers being ‘patient’ in finalizing basketball roster
Pearl and Auburn are still working hard to finalize their basketball roster for next season, where patience is the key word, not panic.
“We’ve been exploring those options for a while. We’ve been patient,” Pearl said on Monday at the Bruce Pearl For The Children golf tournament. “We’ve lost a few guys we’ve been involved with, and I’d say there are still three or four guys still out there that we are actively involved in. We’d like to get one of them. If we got one of them, we’d feel really, really good at that position. Part of it is being patient. Fortunately, there’s some really good options out there. We need one more at that spot.”
