Auburn PG Tahaad Pettiford Earns SEC Preseason Honor

The Auburn Tigers are inching closer to tipping off the 2025-26 season, and their standout player has received one of the greatest preseason honors.

Sophomore point guard Tahaad Pettiford has been named to the Preseason All-SEC First-Team by select SEC and national media members, the league released Monday. He joins Florida forward Alex Condon, Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard, Kentucky’s Otegah Oweh, and Alabama’s Labaron Philon.

The All-SEC Preseason First-Team is here 🔥

Otega Oweh earns Preseason POTY honors 👏 pic.twitter.com/zvcooS7njO
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) October 13, 2025

Pettiford is coming off a spectacular freshman campaign in which he averaged 11.6 points and 3.0 assists per game, playing a prominent role in the Tigers’ regular-season SEC Championship and Final Four run. He started just one game, but Pettiford managed to finish third on the team in scoring and first in assists.

The Jersey City, N.J., native earned SEC All-Freshman Team and NABC Division I All-Southeast District Second Team honors in 2024-25, and was also named to the NCAA South Region All-Tournament Team after averaging 17.3 points and 2.5 assists in four wins en route to San Antonio.

Pettiford is the only returning player from last season’s Final Four team and returns to Auburn after an impressive performance at the NBA combine over the summer. The sophomore could’ve been drafted in the late first round or early second, but he decided to come back to the Plains for another year.

The Tigers, projected to finish sixth in the SEC according to the recently released preseason poll, bring in 10 new players from the transfer portal and high school ranks. This season will also mark the dawn of a new era of Auburn basketball, as Steven Pearl takes over as head coach after his father, Bruce, announced his retirement a few weeks ago.

SEC Preseason Poll, per release.

1. Florida
2. Kentucky
3. Tennessee
4. Alabama
5. Arkansas
6. Auburn
7. Missouri
8. Ole Miss
9. Texas
10. Mississippi State
11. Vanderbilt
12. Oklahoma
13. Texas A&M
14. Georgia
15. LSU
16. South Carolina
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 13, 2025

Auburn faces another brutal schedule in 2025-26, and the nonconference slate could be even tougher than last year’s. The Tigers rank No. 20 in the Preseason AP Poll, and they have to play No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 Houston, No. 7 Michigan, No. 13 Arizona, No. 26 NC State, No. 27 Oregon, and potentially another top team on the final day of the Las Vegas Players Era Festival.

Five other SEC teams also cracked the poll, including No. 3 Florida, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 15 Alabama, and No. 18 Tennessee.

BREAKING: Preseason College Basketball AP Poll🏀https://t.co/pQTPvw4sEm pic.twitter.com/ovodzbD9dE
— On3 (@On3sports) October 13, 2025

The Tigers will take on Oklahoma State in Birmingham, Ala., in the Ballin’ in Boutwell exhibition on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. CST. Auburn will officially tip off the season on Nov. 3 against Bethune-Cookman in Neville Area.