SG/SF Miles Kelly (Instagram)
Bruce Pearl made some waves at Lake Martin last week when he said that he and his staff were looking to add “one more impactful guard” to a loaded 2023-24 roster — but it didn’t have to be a particular type of backcourt piece.
For several weeks, it looked like Auburn was set on adding another point guard to join Furman transfer JP Pegues. With the Tigers returning Denver Jones, Chad Baker-Mazara and Chris Moore while also adding Tahaad Pettiford and Jahki Howard from the high school ranks, a backup floor general made sense on paper.
However, Pearl was set on bringing in the best available guard in the transfer portal. He felt like the versatility of Jones and Pettiford would work in the non-Pegues minutes at the 1 and would “open up some more time at that 2 and 3 spot.”
“We really need one more guy that has a chance to compete,” Pearl said. “It really doesn’t matter for me which position it’s going to be, whether it’s a 1/2 or a 2/1, a 2/3, a 3/2 — it doesn’t really matter. But it’ll be one more guard. We’ve tried to be really patient to get the right fit.”
Less than a week later, Pearl and his staff got their guy. And, as he hinted, the newest Auburn guard isn’t a true point guard. It’s a wing, and one who should boost the Tigers’ scoring, length and experience in a backcourt that “has to improve.”
On Sunday afternoon, Georgia Tech transfer Miles Kelly announced his commitment to Auburn. Kelly, who had also been testing the NBA Draft waters, is coming off of his second straight season in which he was the leading scorer on a rebuilding Yellow Jackets squad in a challenging ACC landscape.
The 6-foot-6 Kelly has been a bucket-getter for his entire career. At Parkview High School in Lilburn, Ga., he averaged 19.1 points per game. He transferred to Hargrove Military Academy, where he scored 17.3 points per game and hit a ridiculous 46.1% of his 3-pointers for a nationally ranked, 33-1 team that averaged well over 100 a night.
As a 4-star guard, Kelly returned to his home state with Georgia Tech and shot 34.7% from deep off the bench as a true freshman. As a sophomore, he became a regular starter and notched 14.4 points per game while hitting 37.9% of his triples and 89.8% of his free throws. This past season, Kelly’s shooting percentages dipped some, but he still averaged 13.9 points per game while also raking in 5.5 rebounds per game.
Kelly has been a top-20 scorer in the ACC in back-to-back seasons, which is no small feat. He’s been a two-time top-15 player in the ACC in 3-pointers made, too. At Georgia Tech, Kelly scored double-digit points in 52 of his 95 career games played. He had 33 games of 15-plus points, 15 of 20-plus points, six of 25-plus points and a pair of 30-point outings.
And Kelly has been known to deliver in big moments. Georgia Tech finished with a losing record in its first season under former college and NBA standout Damon Stoudamire, but it still came through with upset wins over five top-35 KenPom teams: Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest and Mississippi State.
Kelly had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the ACC/SEC Challenge against Mississippi State, going 4-9 on triples and 8-10 from the line. He had 16 points and seven rebounds a few days later in a win over Duke. He had 14-and-6 in a double overtime win at Clemson, followed by a 15-and-5 outing against North Carolina in which he hit a trio of 3s. Against Wake Forest, he had 19 points and went 5-8 from deep.
In his career against SEC opponents, Kelly has averaged nearly 12 points per game while shooting 35.7% from deep and pulling down 5.4 rebounds per game. As a sophomore, he hit a huge 3-pointer and the game-winning basket in the final seconds of a comeback home win over Georgia.
Now, Kelly is bringing that production to the Plains, where he’ll compete for playing time in a backcourt that has the chance to take a major step forward alongside All-American center Johni Broome and an experienced frontcourt.
Here is our full breakdown of Kelly’s game, starting with the one attribute that should make him a perfect fit for what Auburn likes out of its guards.