New details are out on the incident that led to the Auburn basketball team turning around its plane and returning home Friday night, before eventually making its way to Houston for Saturday’s nonconference showdown.
According to Justin Hokanson, Jahki Howard and Ja’Heim Hudson were involved in an altercation, which led to the plane turning around.
Hokanson revealed the news on Twitter Saturday morning. Both players will miss the Houston game.
“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,” he posted.
Jahki Howard is a freshman forward who was ranked as a four-star recruit and the No. 70 overall player in the country in the class of 2024, per the On3 Industry rankings. He played 20 minutes off the bench in Saturday’s 94-43 win over Vermont, scoring 7 points and grabbing 4 rebounds.
Ja’Heim Hudson transferred to Auburn this offseason after spending last year at SMU. He played 15 minutes and had 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in the Auburn opener vs. Vermont.
On3’s Justin Hokanson has more details on the fight here.
News broke Friday evening that the Auburn team plane had to turn around due to “horseplay,” The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman reported. The Tigers were about 45 minutes into the trip, per Goodman.
Auburn is coming off a resounding victory in its first game of the season, cruising past Vermont 94-43 at Neville Arena. Five Tigers reached double figures – led by 21 points from Miles Kelly – as they shot 56.3% as a group, including a 16-for-35 showing from three-point distance. On defense, Auburn held Vermont to just 15-of-58 overall and 5-of-23 from downtown.
Despite the strong showing, Bruce Pearl didn’t want fans to overreact to a 51-point win. He said Auburn simply got hot and played well, and it wasn’t much more than that.
“We’re not celebrating this,” Pearl said. “Don’t read into it too much other than we shot it really well and played pretty hard.”
Despite starting the year against Vermont – which ranks 103rd in the KenPom rankings – Auburn’s schedule won’t get easier. In addition to Houston this weekend, the Tigers will also have to face Duke, Iowa State, Ohio State and Purdue before SEC play begins once the calendar flips to 2025.
