Auburn players involved in flight incident will not participate in matchup against Houston, per report
The Auburn men's basketball team will hit the Toyota Center with two less players to face Houston Saturday. Those two players are freshman Jahki Howard and senior Ja'Heim Hudson, per the latest update from On3's Justin Hokanson.
Howard and Hudson got into an ugly scuffle during the Tigers' trip to Houston on Friday, for which their flight was turned around to Auburn. They eventually made the trip to Houston earlier Saturday sans Howard and Hudson.
"Sources: Auburn freshman F Jahki Howard and senior F Ja'Heim Hudson will not travel to Houston for Saturday night's game after an altercation between the players during travel on Friday," wrote Hokanson.
Howard and Hudson are playing their first seasons at the Tigers, coming to Auburn through different journeys. The Tigers landed a commitment from Howard, a four-star prospect ranked in the Top 100 prospects in the Class of 2024 per On3, while Hudson arrived from SMU through the transfer portal.
Both forwards saw playing time off the bench in Auburn's season opener against the Vermont Catamounts. Howard finished with seven points and four rebounds in his 20 minutes, while Hudson finished with just two points and two rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
Tigers begin 2024-25 season with a victory
The Auburn Tigers, ranked No. 11 in the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll, started the season with a dominant 94-43 victory over the Vermont Catamounts. Bruce Pearl's side showed incredible intensity, with five of their players scoring in double-digits. They made 16 three-pointers, more than thrice that of the Catamounts, in a fine display of shooting from range.
Georgia Tech transfer Miles Kelly came off the bench to finish as the Tigers' top-scorer, with his 21 points coming only from his 7-9 three-point shooting. Senior guard Denver Jones finished with 16 points, while Johni Broome finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Chaney Johnson almost recorded a double-double off the bench, as he finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in just 17 minutes on the court.
Bruce Pearl will look to maintain the Tigers' winning ways against the Houston Cougars Saturday. The contest is set to begin at 9:30 p.m. ET.