Big Night for Auburn's Keyshawn Hall Reflects Dominant Season

As the Auburn Tigers have begun to find their footing in basketball this season, one notable transfer sticks out beyond the rest: Keyshawn Hall. The UCF transfer has absolutely dominated most of the games he’s played in this season, and even netted himself SEC Co-Player of the Week honors just this past week.

Wednesday night against Texas, though, Hall kicked it into another gear. He had a slow start to the game, scoring just six points in a first half utterly dominated by Texas’s deep-range shooting, but came out in the second half with a vengeance. He finished the game with a stellar stat line of 31 points on 7-13 shooting, including 3-6 three-point shooting and 14-17 from the charity stripe.

After the game, Hall seemed to be pretty confident in his abilities, and even that may be an understatement.

“My teammates give me confidence [and] my coaches give me confidence,” Hall said in a press conference after the game. “Not to be cocky, but I feel like I’m the best player in college.”

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Hall’s accolades certainly back up his talk, as his 31-point performance against the Longhorns wasn’t even his best of the season. That title belongs to his performances against Arkansas and Texas A&M, where he managed 32 points in each matchup.

Overall, the “Big Guard” is averaging 20.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, with an average shooting percentage well above 45%. For comparison, Johni Broome, the Tigers’ standout in last year’s Final Four run, averaged 18.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

Hall’s proven to be a standout factor of an Auburn team that’s looking more and more like a March Madness contender in every game, but even when he’s muted, other Tigers can stand up in his place.

Take the South Carolina game, for example: Hall was put in foul trouble early by the Gamecocks and played just 14 minutes throughout the game, scoring just eight points. The Tigers still stood strong and beat the Gamecocks 71-67, largely due to a standout performance from Filip Jovic, who amassed 23 points in that matchup.

The Tigers, led by Hall, are now on a four-game winning streak, including a win over No. 16 Florida, in which Hall boasted 24 points. Up next for the red-hot Steven Pearl squad is an away matchup in Knoxville, where the Tigers are set to take on the Tennessee Volunteers. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST, and it’ll be televised on ESPN.

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