SMU transfer Ja'Heim Hudson commits to Auburn Tigers

SMU transfer Ja’Heim Hudson committed to the Auburn Tigers on Friday night. He announced the move on his Instagram page. Auburn basketball has been spinning its wheels in the past few years under head coach Bruce Pearl. They went to the Final Four in 2019, but have struggled to have another breakthrough season since, falling in the Round of 32 in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. And this year, the Tigers were knocked out the first round by No. 13 seed Yale, 78-76.

This season at SMU, the 6-7 forward played in 31 of 33 games. He averaged 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while adding 18 steals and 17 blocked shots. He notched a season-high 21 points with four rebounds in the first round NIT loss at Indiana State.

With SMU’s move to the ACC, Hudson would’ve likely been coming off the bench as Andy Enfield’s staff build out the roster. With his departure to Auburn, he can pursue a more prominent role there.

Hudson played for former SMU head coach Rob Lanier for the 2021-22 season when the Marietta, Ga. native broke out as a true freshman at Georgia State. He played in 27 games with 12 starts, averaging five points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

He scored 135 points and grabbed 125 rebounds to along with 23 blocks and 10 steals on the year. He finished up the season by having five points and five rebounds in NCAA Tournament game against Gonzaga.

In 2022-23, he led the team with 6.9 rebounds per game while scoring 10.1 points per game. He led the team with 22 blocked shots and was third with 27 steals. Hudson started 21-of-28 games played this past season.

As a prep star, he led Wheeler High School to back-to-back state championships as a junior and senior, earning AJC Class AAAAAA All-State First Team honors his senior year as Wheeler finished with a top 25 national ranking. He finished with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds in the state championship game against region rival Kell. As a junior, he also earned AJC All-Cobb County second team honors. Before transferring to Wheeler for the 2019-2020 season, Hudson played at South Gwinnett High School.

On3’s Billy Embody also contributed to this article.