Auburn’s Jahki Howard tweets (then deletes) halftime post, dismissed from Tennessee game by Bruce Pearl

Auburn freshman forward Jahki Howard had a rocky outing Saturday vs. Rocky Top that began with a scoreless first half, continued with a cryptic halftime tweet, and culminated with a second-half dismissal from the bench back to the locker room.

Howard’s dramatic day began when he took to social media at halftime of the Tennessee game to tweet out two emojis of hands praying and another emoji of a man rubbing his head as if in thought. Whatever mindset he was in clearly bled over into the second half; he played only two minutes before exchanging words with Tigers coach Bruce Pearl. The conversation ended with Pearl pointing to the locker room in an apparent dismissal of Howard for the day.

“He had a rotation out there, and I don’t think he felt great about his rotation,” Pearl said after the game. “We had a conversation, and we had another conversation after the game, and he’ll be fine.”

Howard deleted the tweet after the game and finished his day with five scoreless minutes and one assist.

It’s not the first time Howard, a four-star Class of 2024 prospect who came to Auburn via Overtime Elite, has made an impression — albeit not a good one — in his first season with the program. Howard earlier this season got into an altercation with teammate Ja’Heim Hudson on a now-infamous flight gone awry that forced the team plane to turn around and return to the airport in November. He was suspended five games as a result of the incident.

Auburn has nonetheless made use of Howard’s immense talents despite the occasional headaches he’s seemingly caused. He is eighth on the team in minutes played per game for the No. 1 Tigers and seventh on the team in scoring, averaging 5.6 points per game while shooting 39% from 3-point range. 

Despite the in-game drama, Auburn managed to win the game over visiting Tennessee, 53-51.