Mark Pope sees shades of Paul Pierce in Auburn star Keyshawn Hall

Keyshawn Hall has been terrific offensively on the hardwood for Auburn in 2025-26.

The 6-foot-7 wing leads the Tigers in scoring at 21 points per game, tacking on seven rebounds and 2.7 assists for good measure. His individual play hasn’t translated to team-wide success so far this season as Auburn sits on a 14-12 (5-8 SEC) record heading into Saturday’s home matchup with Kentucky, but he’s a problem with the ball in his hands every time he steps on the floor.

“He’s versatile and physical,” Wildcats head coach Mark Pope said of Hall on Thursday. “He can mess around behind the three-point line, so you have to push up on him. He’s not, like, electrifyingly quick. There’s some Paul Pierce juice in him, where he goes at his own pace, but when he goes, he really goes. He’s a three-level scorer. He’s really good at throwing his body into you, he’s a good player. He’s a proven scorer. He’s even made a big jump this year, his first year at Auburn. But he’s an electric score, and he’s put up numbers against the best defenses in the country.”

Putting up numbers has been Hall’s specialty throughout his college career, one that now has him at his fourth school in four years. After a so-so freshman season at UNLV, he poured in 16.6 points per game as a sophomore at George Mason before posting 18.8 per game as a junior at Central Florida. The Cleveland native just surpassed 1,700 college points in Auburn’s close loss to Mississippi State on Wednesday night. Hall, who had missed the previous two games for not living “up to the standards and expectations” of Steven Pearl’s program, scored 29 points on 8-17 shooting in the defeat.

Similar to Pierce, a 10-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer, Hall knows how to get to his spots and break down defenders on his way there. They’re both bigger — yet slower — players who can get buckets at will. Pope obviously isn’t comparing the two as identical one-to-one players, but there are related traits that the two possess. Hall is a high-usage guy who shoots over 41 percent on threes and gets to the free-throw line (85.2 percent on 8.8 attempts per game) more than most players in the entire country.

He will be a tough challenge for Kentucky’s defense on Saturday night.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.