BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the second time this season, senior All-American and National Player of the Year contender Johni Broome (Plant City, Fla.) earned SEC Player of the Week honors on Monday.
He led Auburn to a 3-0 week and the program’s first Maui Invitational title with dominating wins over No. 5 Iowa State (W, 83-81), No. 12 North Carolina (W, 85-72) and Memphis (W, 90-76). Broome recorded his fifth straight double-double with 21 points and 16 rebounds to go with six assists, four blocks and a steal versus Memphis in the championship game. He secured his 65th career double-double in the first half, making it the second-straight game he has posted a double-double in the first half with 15 points and 11 rebounds to go with five assists, three blocks and a steal before halftime.
The forward/center became the first Auburn player to record five-straight double-doubles since the late Jeff Moore in 1988. He moved past Charles Barkley for 28th on Auburn’s career scoring list finishing the game with 1,188 points. Broome averaged 21.7 points, 15.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.0 blocks per game to bring home 2024 Maui Invitational MVP honors.
The Tigers are off to a 7-0 start for or the third time in the last six seasons after starting 8-0 during the 2022-23 season and 15-0 in 2019-20. They became just the third school from the SEC to win the Maui Invitational next to Vanderbilt in 1986 and Kentucky in 1993.
Auburn moved up two spots to No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll receiving 26 first-place votes, while Kansas remained No. 1 with 35 first-place votes.