Auburn not rushing point guard rotation
Auburn’s first two possessions of the season resulted in turnovers from its senior starting point guard.
New Orleans native J’Von McCormick had three turnovers in the first three minutes of action and five in the first half in Auburn’s win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday.
Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl wasn’t overly concerned, however, about the sloppy start, especially considering McCormick turned around to score nine points and commit no giveaways in the second half of the victory.
“Little bit of growing pains,” Pearl said. “Probably felt a little bit more pressure. But [McCormick] was effective getting to the basket. He turned the ball over a little bit early. Again, got disrupted. They (Georgia Southern) switch almost everything and that really makes what you do defensively difficult. But … he made winning plays down the stretch.”
Pearl said his plan heading into the season opener was to rotate in former 4-star prospect and true freshman point guard Tyrell Jones in more regularly in the contest, but “Turbo” Jones played just one minute. He checked in with 8 minutes left in the opening half, stole the ball but immediately committed a turnover, then was replaced by Samir Doughty at the point and did not return.
“[Jones] came in and struggled a little bit early and just — just felt like he needed to … he's got to be able to come out there and perform,” Pearl said.
As has been the plan in order to get the ball in Auburn’s sharp-shooting wing’s hands earlier in the shot clock, Doughty played 7 minutes at the point without McCormick on the floor.
On the night, the senior from Philadelphia scored a game-high 20 points — his second 20-point game in an Auburn uniform — and had five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“He can run 1 or 2 or 3,” McCormick said last week of Doughty. “He's got it all.”
Despite Doughty’s early success playing both guards, Pearl was adamant postgame that he’ll still give Jones the same opportunity to serve as McCormick’s true backup in Friday’s matchup with Davidson and throughout the nonconference slate.
“I think it's really import that Tyrell Jones continues to get minutes and continues to grow,” Pearl said before the season. “... There was a lot of things he didn't know defensively, as some freshman do. Trying to learn the point guard position, we are certainly gonna need him in there — whether it's for depth or if we sustain injury or foul trouble. His ability to go out there and perform as a freshman is important.”
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