Auburn Basketball Lands Surprise Transfer
Auburn has landed one of the top players in the transfer portal in Furman transfer point guard JP Pegues.
Pegues, a 6'1, 185er originally out of Nashville, TN, spent the first three seasons of his career at Furman. He should have one year of eligibility remaining on the Plains.
Pegues averaged 18.4 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, and 1.2 SPG on 42% shooting from the field and 36.2% 3P shooting this past season. He was a 1st team All-SoCon selection on the year.
On3 ranks Pegues as the No. 29 overall player in the portal (and the No. 4 ranked Point Guard), while 247 ranks him at No. 44 overall and Rivals ranks him No. 31. The On3 Industry Ranking (their composite poll) ranks him No. 30 overall and as the No. 7 ranked Point Guard.
He has career totals of 11.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 3.3 APG on 41.7% shooting (35.4% 3P) across 95 career games (66 career starts). He came off the bench in his Freshman season in 2021/22 before earning a starting job in his Sophomore season (averaged 11.9 PPG in 31.7 minutes per game), then took a big step forward this past season in his Junior year.
Pegues notably helped lead Furman to the 2nd round of the 2023 NCAA tournament after winning the SoCon tournament title and upsetting 4-seed Virginia in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament. He averaged 16.8 PPG in those final five games. He also notably went for 21 points and 6 assists against Arkansas this past season.
It's been an offseason of turnover at guard for the Tigers, as the unit will look very different next season. Aden Holloway, Tre Donaldson, and KD Johnson are all departing (having all entered the portal themselves).
Meanwhile, the Tigers are bringing in a pair of highly ranked guards in the HS class of 2024 in five-star PG Tahaad Pettiford and four-star SG Jahki Howard, and have now landed Pegues in the portal.