How transfer guard JP Pegues has been ‘quietly consistent’ since joining Auburn basketball

AUBURN — A traditional point guard has one true responsibility: Making the lives of his teammates easier.

That’s not necessarily done through playmaking nowadays, as a number of lead guards have proven to be excellent scorers themselves. One archetype isn’t necessarily better than the other — look at Jared Harper, who posted 15.3 points per game en route to the Final Four with Auburn basketball in 2019.

But there’s no doubting how an old-school PG could help a talented teammate get buckets.

Auburn’s production out of its PGs last season left some to be desired. The tandem of Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson wasn’t bad in any sense — the duo teamed up to average 17.3 points and 6.7 assists to help the Tigers open the campaign with a 16-2 record — but it did have faults. Holloway and Donaldson combined to shoot 37.8% from the field in Auburn’s final eight games in 2023-24.

With both PGs transferring away this offseason, the Tigers went out and reshaped the position. Furman transfer JP Pegues will assume most of the responsibility there now after spending the first three seasons of his career with the Paladins, with whom he averaged 18.4 points and 4.8 assists last season.

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A veteran with nearly 100 games played, including two contests in March Madness, Pegues hasn’t been particularly focused on making himself pop to the Auburn staff through summer workouts.

“I think he’s taken a really interesting approach to his arrival,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said of Pegues earlier this month at an AMBUSH event in Lake Martin. “Rather than worrying about making himself look good, he’s been more worried about making sure everybody gets involved and learning the system, so on and so forth.”

Pegues posted an assist percentage of 25.9% last season, per College Basketball Analytics. That was tied for No. 166…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/transfer-guard-jp-pegues-quietly-090219177.html

Author : The Montgomery Advertiser

Publish date : 2024-07-17 09:02:19

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