Johni Broome’s future in the NBA and ability to help Auburn’s offense was going to require him to become a better 3-point shooter. He’s got a 22% career mark from deep, and before this year averaged fewer than one attempt per game.

But the challenge from head coach Bruce Pearl was clear. Auburn needed to be a better shooting team in the 2023-24 season after being dreadful ever since its trip to the 2019 Final Four.

That included Broome, Auburn’s best player. It’s part of why Broome returned to Auburn after putting his name in the 2023 NBA Draft. He had to prove he could shoot it.

So Broome started going through drills with Auburn’s best 3-point shooters as if he was one of them.

“Repping it every day in practice,” Broome said on Tuesday after an 88-68 win over Penn at Neville Arena. “When nobody’s watching, shooting. Shooting with guys like Denver (Jones), Aden (Holloway), Tre (Donaldson), K.D. (Johnson). Having a competition with them. Obviously, they’re great shooters, so trying to keep up with them, doing their shooting drills gives me the confidence to shoot, too.”

Yet finding 3-point success has been few and far between for Broome this season.

Before Tuesday, Broome hadn’t made a 3-pointer since Auburn’s Nov. 16 win against Notre Dame. But he hadn’t shied away from shooting. During that nine-game stretch without a make, Broome took at least two deep shots in six of them.

On Tuesday, Broome made two 3-pointers within the first three minutes of Auburn’s (11-2) win over Penn. His shooting was the spark of a dominant first half where seemingly no Tiger player could miss from beyond the arc. Auburn picked up a sixth straight win, closing out non-conference play with a statement before heading on the road for the SEC opener against Arkansas on Saturday.

“Man, it felt good to see the first one go in,” Broome said. “A lot of credit goes to my teammates and my coaches. They still believe in me to give me those shots, set those shots up for me.”

Broome finished the night with 24 points and 12 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the season. But where a night like this makes him dangerous is what it can do for the rest of the offense.

The big man’s shooting propelled Auburn to knock in 10 of 19 deep shots in the first half. Seven different Auburn players made a 3-pointer. Many of the makes came from atypical sources. Holloway was not his typical 3-point-draining self. Instead, Broome and forward Jaylin Williams made five of Auburn’s 12 3-point successes.

“He had clean looks tonight and he took them in rhythm,” Pearl said of Broome. “He’s just got such a great offensive pace to his game. He doesn’t rush. He’s a great athlete, he’s got great balance, and he’s able to do a lot of things in there offensively. He scores with his back to the basket, he’s old school. Stepping to the foul line and making free throws is important.”

Auburn has proven repeatedly this season that it is deep and has several different players who can step up at any given moment. Broome is Auburn’s leading scorer, and is the most capable of consistently putting up big numbers like he did Tuesday.

But if Broome can prove a consistent ability to make 3s, he dramatically changes Auburn’s offense.

Pearl has been stressing a five-out offense — meaning all five players, even the center who is typically under the basket, line up outside the 3-point arc. It’s the type of positionless basketball, so to speak, that has taken over the modern NBA.

A five-out offense works best when a team’s big man can be enough of a 3-point threat to force an opposing defense to guard him all the way out to the 3-point line. If Broome can force opponents to guard him like that, it will stretch out the opponent’s defense and leave far more open space for Auburn’s entire offense to operate.

It’s already a dangerous group, with the largest average margin of victory among SEC teams so far this season. A new element of Broome’s game would make it even more so. It’s exactly how Auburn blitzed Penn with 3-point shooting to earn a large first half lead it would never relinquish.

“And look, as a play caller, if I can bring the opponent’s big away from the basket, that opens the rim for everybody else,” Pearl said. “So, his ability to shoot it and the need to guard him is as important as anything. He feels good about himself. He, obviously, feels good about himself.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]