AUBURN | Jahki Howard announced his return right away with a dunk a minute into substituting into the game.
The freshman then put a huge exclamation point on Auburn’s 98-54 win over Richmond Sunday with a rebound and power dunk over 6-foot-10 Jonathan Beagle
“It kinda surprises me it was his first game back — and his first college body. It was huge,” said freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford. “I've seen that multiple times. It's nothing new, to be honest.”
Howard played a season-high 21 minutes in only his second appearance since his involvement in a fight during the plane trip to Houston Nov. 8, which had to be diverted back to Auburn.
He’s had six DNP’s and a two-minute cameo against Memphis since.
“It was great knowing the situation he's been through - just him being a good teammate throughout the games he couldn't play, showing up to practice every day working as hard as he can just trying to get back in the rotation,” said Pettiford.
“It was good seeing come out there, do what he does best, and he was loving it, he was happy doing it, so that's the best thing about it.”
Howard finished with a career-high 13 points on four dunks, a three-pointer and two free throws. He added four rebounds and shot 5 of 9 from the floor.
“My job as a coach is to put the kids out there in positions to be successful,” said AU coach Bruce Pearl. “To Jahki's credit and his family's credit, they understood that. We worked really hard this week and coming back from Duke at getting him his repetitions. Now, Chad Baker-Mazara plays 18 minutes almost by choice, recognizing we have to get Jahki out there and that he needs the reps. Chad Baker, just incredibly unselfish.
“There's an example of a guy that's going to help us get better. He's going to make some mistakes; he made some tonight. But he's going to make a lot happen, too. I was pleased with having him on the floor and some things that he did.”
Auburn returns to action Saturday in the Holiday Hoopsgiving against Ohio State. Tip-off at State Farm Arena in Atlanta is scheduled for noon CT on ESPN2.
