After a whirlwind offseason that saw Auburn’s roster turned inside out and head coach Bruce Pearl step down unexpectedly, the Tigers entered this season with more questions than answers. Only one key piece from last year’s Final Four squad remained-Tahaad Pettiford-and with Steven Pearl now at the helm, the program faced a steep uphill climb in the SEC.
One of the biggest questions? Who was going to score. And score consistently.
Enter Keyshawn Hall.
The junior forward has stepped into the spotlight and delivered in a big way, helping Auburn steady the ship after a shaky start in conference play. Hall isn’t just filling a role-he’s becoming the engine of this team’s offense.
And nowhere was that more evident than in Saturday’s breakthrough win at Florida. Auburn hadn’t won in Gainesville since 1996, but Hall made sure that streak ended.
He came out firing, scoring the Tigers’ first 10 points and racking up 22 in the first half alone. He finished with 24, setting the tone early and never letting up.
This is a player who already had a scorer’s résumé-he averaged 18.8 points per game at UCF last season-but what he’s doing now is on another level. Hall is putting up 20.3 points per game while becoming Auburn’s go-to guy in crunch time.
He’s blending long-range touch with physicality at the rim, giving defenders nightmares. Think Miles Kelly’s shooting stroke meets Chad Baker-Mazara’s downhill aggression.
He’s not just catching the attention of SEC coaches-national analysts are taking note too. ESPN slotted Hall at No. 13 in its midseason ranking of the top 50 players in college basketball, and it’s not hard to see why.
His production has been both consistent and clutch. He’s averaging 7.6 rebounds to go along with his scoring, shooting over 41% from beyond the arc, and showing up when it matters most.
Just look at the numbers in Auburn’s biggest wins: 32 points against Arkansas, 28 vs. NC State, 24 at Florida, and 20 against St.
John’s. That’s not just volume scoring-it’s timely, efficient, and often game-changing.
For a team that lost nearly every major contributor from last season and is adjusting to a new voice on the sideline, Hall has become the stabilizer. The Tigers may still be figuring out their identity, but one thing’s clear: if they’re going to make another deep March run, Keyshawn Hall will be at the center of it.
He’s not just replacing lost production-he’s redefining what this Auburn team can be.