Even with a 94-78 win over No. 17 Kentucky on Saturday, Auburn fans weren't completely happy with the game as they saw their starting point guard leave the court with an injury early in the game.
Eight minutes into the first half, star point guard Denver Jones left the court with an ankle injury that looked worse than it really was. After leaving to court to get an X-ray and coming back to the bench later, Jones did not re-enter the game, but head coach Bruce Pearl had a good update in his post-game press conference.
"Good news," Pearl said to the media. "It was X-rayed, bone bruise, so he's going to recover from it, but he's a tough kid, I was really worried that he had a bone break or something."
Bruce Pearl says #Auburn G Denver Jones suffered a bone bruise against No. 17 Kentucky.
— Adam Cole (@colereporter) March 1, 2025
He's expecting Jones to recover, but didn't offer a timeline for his return.
There is no timetable for Jones's return to the court. Sometimes, bone bruises can heal quickly, and sometimes, they take a while to heal, but a bruise is better than a break. Luckily, freshman Tahaad Pettiford stepped into the game for Jones and did a great job playing 33 minutes in the game and scored 21 points off the bench, the third most on the day for the Tigers.
On a day when Jones went out early with an injury, and star power forward Johni Broome struggled, scoring just nine points and having just six rebounds, the rest of the Auburn squad picked up the slack.
Pettiford had 21 points, Chad Baker-Mazara had 22 points, and Miles Kelly led the way with 30 points as the leading scorer for the Tigers. Broome still finished the day with the most rebounds totaling six, but on an off day, his teammates made the plays he struggled with.
While the Jones injury update is positive, Auburn certainly will miss him on the court over the next few games, but since the Tigers won the regular season SEC title and earned the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, they might be smart to just save him for the tournament.
Even if Jones can come back in the final game of the season, might be better to give him the extra rest to be as ready as he can be for what will be a grueling track in the SEC Tournament.