Auburn star Tahaad Pettiford in walking boot with ankle injury after Purdue game

After reaching the Final Four in 2024-25, the start of this season has been a rough one for Auburn basketball. The Tigers are navigating the recent retirement of longtime head coach Bruce Pearl while grinding through a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule.

On Saturday, Auburn faced even more adversity. During a blowout 88-60 loss to Purdue in Indianapolis, star point guard Tahaad Pettiford went down with an ankle injury and was in a walking boot on the bench at the end of the game, according to Justin Ferguson of The Auburn Observer.

Auburn needs Pettiford at 100% to reach its potential this season, as the Tigers lack the same kind of scoring punch that they had last season in their first year under Steven Pearl. Auburn will be hoping that Pettiford’s injury doesn’t bleed into SEC play beginning on Jan. 3.

Pettiford is the second-leading scorer on this Auburn team, averaging just over 15 points per game on the season. UCF transfer Keyshawn Hall is the star at 20.3 points per game, but Pettiford gives them another great option on the perimeter for a team without a lot of front court depth.

The sophomore didn’t have his best stuff on Saturday even before leaving the game, scoring just five points on 2-for-7 shooting in 25 minutes. He is a bit of a streaky player, but he needs to grow into that true point guard role in order for Auburn to compete in the SEC.

Pearl and company have taken their lumps in the non-conference so far this season, with blowout losses to Michigan, Arizona and Purdue. The Tigers also have a one-point loss to Houston, but that gives them four losses to legitimate top-10 teams on the season. The SEC will be a difficult test, but this stretch of schedule should get them ready to be tested on a nightly basis.

It will be interesting to see the strides that Pettiford and this Auburn team can take over the next couple of months. At the moment, it is clear that this team is not on the level of the best teams in the country, so there is a lot of growing that needs to be done in order to get there.

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