Even without star big man Johni Broome in the lineup, Auburn kept its undefeated record in SEC play intact with a 70-68 win over Georgia last weekend. The Tigers keep their winning streak alive behind a monster performance from freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford, who scored 24 points off the bench.
This isn’t the first time the former highly-touted recruit stepped up when his team needed him most. Pettiford scored 21 points off the bench in Auburn’s second game in a win over then No. 4 Houston. Pettiford has scored at least 20 points in three games.
Pettiford has appeared in 18 games — all off the bench — for the Tigers. He’s shooting an efficient 43.8% on 4.9 attempts per game from beyond the arc and is the third-leading scorer behind Broome and fellow guard Chad Baker-Mazara.
Let’s jump into our rankings and get to the latest CBS Sports/USBWA Freshman of the Week for the 2024-25 college basketball season.
Freshman of the Week: Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
Welcome back to the Frosh Watch, our weekly ranking of the five most impressive freshmen in college basketball. CBS Sports has once again teamed up with the United States Basketball Writers Association and its Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award to present this every-Tuesday feature. Each week we’ll start by announcing the national Freshman of the Week honoree. The cycle for FOTW runs Tuesday-Monday.
For the second time, Pettiford is the Freshman of the Week. He earned FOTW honors after the opening week of the 2024-25 season after having a huge performance off the bench in Auburn’s win over Houston.
The former No. 29 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle by 247Sports has been one of the best reserves in the SEC. Pettiford is averaging 12.0 points, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals in 21.1 minutes per game.
Previous Freshman of the Week winners
Frosh Watch: Ranking top 5 freshman
1. Cooper Flagg | G/F | Duke
Stats: 19.2 PPG | 8.1 RPG | 4.1 APG
Big performances by Flagg are starting to become the norm. Flagg finished with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists in Duke’s 88-63 win over Boston College last weekend. The Blue Devils have won their last 12 games and are off to the best start in conference play since the 2007-08 season when the program started with 10 consecutive wins against ACC competition. Last week: 1
2. Dylan Harper | G | Rutgers
Stats: 20.1 PPG | 5.3 RPG | 4.4 RPG
Harper had an injury scare during Rutgers’ 80-72 loss to Penn State on Monday. Harper appeared to roll his ankle but elected to stay in the game. He finished with seven points, four rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes. Harper has scored less than 10 points in three of his last five games. Last week: 2
3. Ace Bailey | G/F | Rutgers
Stats: 18.9 PPG | 7.6 RPG | 1.1 SPG
Bailey had a standout scoring performance in Rutgers’ loss to Penn State. Bailey dropped 30 points, which marked the ninth time the star freshman scored at least 20 points. Bailey logged his season-high in points (39) during a loss to Indiana earlier this month. Last week: 4
4. Kasparas Jakučionis | G/F | Illinois
Stats: 15.9 PPG | 5.1 RPG | 5.3 APG
When looking at the box score of Illinois’ 80-78 loss to Michigan State, you may notice that Jakučionis only logged nine minutes. That’s because the Illinois star guard was in major foul trouble throughout. He picked up his fifth foul with just over six minutes to play in regulation and finished with a season-low three points. Last week: 3
5. Ian Jackson | G | North Carolina
Stats: 15.2 PPG | 3.7 RPG | 0.9 APG
Jackson was coming off his best stretch in his college career before dropping six points in a loss to Stanford. Jackson had scored at least 18 points in seven consecutive games before his last performance against the Cardinal. Jackson has been playing like North Carolina’s best player this season. Last week: 5
