Johni Broome injury update: New report reveals seriousness of Auburn center ailment

Auburn fans around Neville Arena held their breath with Johni Broome went down with a shoulder injury on Tuesday against Georgia State. Broome went back to the locker room and was not on the bench for some time before returning in a sling. Not what the Tigers wanted as the nonconference slate comes to a close.

Thankfully, there appears to be good news on the ailment. Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 reports the shoulder issue is “not considered serious.” The official designation on Broome is day-to-day with the expectation that some time will be missed.

“Auburn big man Johni Broome’s shoulder injury is not considered serious, source told @TheFieldOf68,” Goodman said via X. “No surgery needed. Likely a day to day thing, but could miss a little time.”

Two more games are left for Auburn before attention turns to SEC play. One of them is another massive opportunity, facing Purdue on Saturday in Birmingham. A little Christmas break will take place before Monmouth comes to the Plains.

From there, games against quality opponents will begin to fly off the schedule. Missouri is the first SEC game of the season on Jan. 4 before traveling to Texas for the program’s first-ever conference game against the Longhorns.

Auburn’s star center will have just over two weeks to recover before those contests occur, though.

“We’ll just start with Johni. Obviously, his right shoulder kind of came out, came right back,” Pearl said on the injury on Tuesday. “He did it a year ago, so he’s had some experience with it. We’ll take a look at it tomorrow and tell you more. We hope he’s gonna be okay.”

Broome is making a strong early case for National Player of the Year, helping fuel Auburn’s 9-1 start to the year. Entering Tuesday night, Broome averaged 19.7 points and 12.7 rebounds to lead the Tigers’ attack.

He is coming off one of his biggest games of the year last time out. He scored 21 points and pulled down 20 rebounds against Ohio State to lead Auburn to the resounding 91-53 victory. The Tigers’ only blemish came against Duke, which won an 84-78 thriller earlier this month.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report