AUBURN | Jahki Howard scored just six points off the bench against Monmouth, but two of those field goals came on jaw-dropping dunks by the freshman.

The first came with 12 minutes left in the second half when fellow freshman Tahaad Pettiford stole the basketball and lofted a pass, which Howard caught in midair and finished with a windmill dunk.

“When I first saw it, I couldn’t breathe,” said senior Dylan Cardwell. “I was literally like breathtaking. Growing up, you always see that Gerald Green dunk when he played for the Nets. That windmill. To see it in person, when someone jumps higher than him … I really couldn’t believe it.

“Literally, my breath was taken out of me. It was pretty much the best I’ve seen in person. I think that’ll go down as the best dunk in Neville Arena.”

Four minutes later, it was again Pettiford who launched a pass from mid-court that Howard caught and finished with a behind-the-head dunk.

“To be honest, I’m about to go home and rewatch that because I can still believe what I see with my own eyes. But that kid is a freak of nature,” said senior Chad Baker-Mazara.

After playing in just one of seven games from Nov. 9 to Dec. 4, Howard has averaged 17 minutes over the past five games, earning a spot in the playing rotation at wing.

In those five games, he’s averaged 9.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and totaled seven dunks.

“Jahki Howard is going to be a great player. Jahki Howard is going to play in the NBA some day,” said AU coach Bruce Pearl. “He gets frustrated because he — while he can do that, we still are trying to coach him in some other areas, and he's hard on himself. That's it. He is just hard on himself. And if we can get him to just find a little bit more joy, and not be so hard on himself and not be affected by certain things, but that's just the difference between being 18 and being just a little bit older.

“And when we say that he's gifted and talented, he's also a hard worker. So on other teams, he'd be starting and playing 30 minutes, but he knew coming in and he had a chance to play with some really good older players, and you could see what he obviously can do. Next year he's got a chance to be a tremendously impactful player, but he's gonna impact this year's team.”

Auburn hosts Missouri Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.