AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn signed one of the nation’s top transfer guards in first-team All-Southern Conference selection JP Pegues (pronounced PUH-geez).
The 6-foot-2, 165-pound point guard from Nashville, Tennessee, played the last three seasons at Furman, where he averaged 18.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game during his junior campaign. Pegues was the Paladins’ leading scorer and playmaker with a 2.32 assist-to-turnover ratio (144 assists to 62 turnovers). He was also third on the team in interceptions (35).
Pegues shot 42 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from behind the 3-point arc. He scored a season-high 35 points at Western Carolina on Feb. 28 – one of 15 games last season in which Pegues scored 20 or more points.
“JP is a winner,” says head coach Bruce Pearl said. “He is a playmaker who has great ability to shoot the basketball. He can score at all three levels, defend and lead. In talking with several top coaches in the SoCon, they unanimously believed he was the best player of their league this season. .
“We have demonstrated a great ability to advance to the high levels of middle school basketball and the transition to Auburn has been great for those who have transferred into our program, including John Broome, Wendell Green Jr., Denver Jones And Jasper Zep. Associate head coach Steven Pearl and the staff has done an outstanding job evaluating talent in the transfer portal. This is an important first step in rebuilding our team.”
Ranked No. 28 in the On3 transfer portal player rankings and No. 41 overall and No. 11 point guard by 247 Sports, Pegues was named the Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Championship MVP 2023, leading the Paladins to their first championship title. since 1980.
He made national headlines after scoring 11 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left in No. 13 seed Furman’s 68-67 win over top-seeded Virginia No. 4, in the first round of the 2023 NCAA tournament.