Tag: auburn basketball

WATCH: Auburn releases goosebump-inducing highlight video of win over Kentucky

Auburn defeated Kentucky for the third time in four games on Saturday as Allen Flanigan led the Tigers with 21 points.

Auburn once again defeated Kentucky in basketball on Saturday, the Tigers’ third win in the last four games between the two, as Allen Flanigan scored 21 points and the Tigers’ defense shut down the struggling Wildcats.

Despite Kentucky being 4-8 now on the season, it was still a big win for a young Auburn team that is finding its footing and, as usual, it was followed up by a highlight video that will get your blood pumping.

Bruce Pearl has made extraordinary ordinary by flipping Auburn-Kentucky series on its head

Bruce Pearl has made extraordinary ordinary by flipping Auburn-Kentucky series on its head

Auburn is 6-5 against Kentucky in the last 11 matchups as Bruce Pearl has turned the tables on the Wildcats in the series.

It was common practice just five seasons ago that when Auburn pulled out the rare occurrence of beating Kentucky in basketball, the court would be stormed. Heck, this was the case even when Auburn was the favorites as the Tigers were in 2000.

It would be a shocker. A cliche case of David vs. Goliath with the Wildcats serving as the constant punishers. If Auburn dominates the series in football, it was even worse the opposite way when it came to basketball. Between 1990 and 2015, Kentucky went an eye-popping 33-1 against the Tigers.

Let’s repeat that: 33-1. And that included a lot of blowouts at the hands of Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and John Calipari.

Yet it all changed with that upset victory in 2016. Since Kareem Canty and the Tigers scored the upset, it has been Auburn the aggressor and Kentucky the hunted. Amazingly, the Tigers lead 6-5 in the last 11 matchups. Who could have ever thought that possible?

I’ve told the story before but I will repeat it here: Right after Bruce Pearl was hired, I sat beside him and his son, Steven, at The Hound in downtown Auburn. We had a friendly conversation and I asked him to just beat Kentucky for me. His response: “Maybe not this year, but we will get there.”

He’s definitely reached that point. Sure, this year’s Kentucky team is far from what you usually see on the court from a Calipari-coached side. They are struggling mightily but, then again, they have a roster full of McDonald’s All-Americans and so many 5-stars that would make even Nick Saban blush. Off year or not, the Wildcats are still the standard in the SEC and for most of college basketball.

Pearl has turned the series on its head by building a program full of players that don’t cower in the face of the Kentucky uniform. That wasn’t always the case. When they see that name on the front, many Auburn teams in the past immediately wilted. Who can blame them?

Yet we can all thank Pearl and the 2019 team for putting that to bed. Everything, and I mean everything, was pointing toward a Kentucky win in that Elite Eight game. The Wildcats had won the previous two matchups including a month earlier in Rupp in a blowout. Chuma Okeke was out after turning into Auburn’s best player and, well, their jerseys said Kentucky and ours said Auburn.

Jared Harper, Bryce Brown and the rest of the gang basically said, “To heck with that narrative” and went out and did the darn thing.

Now, a win against Kentucky isn’t treated as an upset or should it. This isn’t to say that the two programs are on the same level. Far from it. Calipari still brings in the elite of the elite each and every season and only once in a blue moon do the Wildcats have a season like this.

But it is getting closer and, despite the struggles this year’s team has seen so far during the growing process, they stepped up in the big moment against the winningest program in the sport’s history.

It once took an extraordinary effort and game with everything having to fall in place for Auburn to be on the winning side against Kentucky in basketball. Pearl is now making that look ordinary and, like yesterday, even expected.

Everything Bruce Pearl said following Auburn’s 66-59 win over Kentucky

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl spoke following the Tigers’ 66-59 win over Kentucky on Saturday.

Opening statement…

“Beating Kentucky is historic. I thought we had a great team effort. I thought our post guys did a terrific job fronting the post and keeping it out of there. Allen Flanigan was a man out there in every which way – rebounding, defensively, attacking the rim, using his physicality, willingness to take big shots, 8 for 8 from the foul line. You talk about a warrior. But up and down the roster. Devan Cambridge has quietly put together three straight really productive games. JT Thor makes big plays late. Dylan Cardwell is out there against five-star kids, high-major transfers. He didn’t play high school basketball last year, and the year before, he played behind Kofi Cockburn at Oak Hill. Dylan Cardwell is a really, really good young prospect. I’m really proud of our team. Both teams played really hard, and offense was difficult this afternoon.”

On Devan Cambridge’s three-game stretch, coming off the bench…

“Nobody likes to step out of the starting lineup, but he knew Sharife (Cooper) belonged and he was AAU teammates on the Nike circuit with AOT. Jamal (Johnson), Al (Flanigan) and Devan all volunteered. I made the decision to let Devan really have the honor of giving his friend and one of our leaders an opportunity. To Devan’s credit, he’s come back from break and he’s been very focused. That’s why today when Sharife doesn’t have his best game – he still draws nine fouls, he still gets eight assists, he’s still got a great plus-minus – but he also sees, ‘I don’t have to carry us.’ I want him to carry us. But when he doesn’t, we can still win, and that’s a really good sign. It’s play from Devan Cambridge or Allen Flanigan or JT Thor or Dylan Cardwell or Jaylin Williams that makes all the difference in the world.”

On Sharife Cooper playing better in the second half…

“He did. Let me just say this. Think about Sharife Cooper’s week. He finds out on Saturday morning a week ago he’s going to play, and he plays Alabama in a four-point game. And then we travel Tuesday to Georgia, he plays Wednesday against his arch rival in his home state. Then he comes back and plays Kentucky? That’s a pretty tough eight days. I would imagine he’s tired. I would imagine he’s pretty sore because they were physical. And I think missing 72 days of practice – you couldn’t see it right away, but you can see it now.”

On winning the battle on the boards…

“Dylan Cardwell had four big ones (in the first half). JT (Thor) got three. If there’s traffic and there’s a bunch of bodies in there and the ball goes up, 22 in white (Allen Flanigan) is going to get it. Twenty-two in white? He’s going to get it. At the end of the day, it still boils down to defense, rebounding and 50-50 balls. And one of the things I told our team, that’s not where Sharife (Cooper) is going to make us better. We’ve got to grow up in those other areas – and to a certain extent we are – if we’re going to continue to get better.”

On beating Kentucky four seasons in a row…

“I think you’re judged by how you do against the best teams on your schedule, and certainly Kentucky is going to always be as good as anybody on our schedule. Beating Alabama is important, beating Georgia is important. So it matters. We want to make history. I think before I got here, they had lost 17 in a row or something like that. I’m not even sure.  But look, you’ve got to take advantage of your opportunity. We played Kentucky at home three years in a row, and the reason why we’ve got them at home is because TV wants the Auburn-Kentucky game because it is competitive. And our program has been one of the top-five programs in the SEC over the last four years or so. So it’s great to make history.”

Everything John Calipari said ahead of Auburn vs. Kentucky

Kentucky and John Calipari have lost two out of the last three games to Bruce Pearl and Auburn.

On his impressions of Auburn’s Sharife Cooper and what he does for Auburn …

“He’s played two games and they’re scoring like 25 points per game more. They’re scoring 15 in transition with him at point, and the reason is, like some of the great guards I’ve had, that ball hits his hands and it may be out of his hands in a half second up the court. What would that do to people on your team? That means they’re flying because if they get a two-step lead, he will throw it. So, the biggest thing has been that. The second thing is he really sees things before they happen. He knows about what’s going to happen whether it’s a pass to a lob, whether it’s a skip. He’s a terrific player. And we recruited him, so I know how good he is. He’s a special (player). He’s got a special talent.”

On Auburn’s Justin Powell and his impressions of him before he got hurt …

“He is a terrific scorer. And he scores—I know how he’s shooting the ball. He’s probably their highest percentage 3-point shooter. But, they had him at point and he was fine. He was scoring all kinds of different ways for them. I think with Sharife there, he’ll be pushed back a little bit, but I think he’ll get minutes because he can shoot. But, you know, he’s another one. He’s a good player. Their young guys can shoot it, they’re athletic. They’re good.”

On Auburn’s rim protection and if that makes perimeter shooting more important …

“They come at it, and again, their rim protection is more than one guy. It’s like three or four. They’ll go block shots. It’s how they play. But it’s not like you can’t go at them. The spacing of the court and other things matter in this game. Being strong at the rim matters in this game. But they’re, you know, I think they block shots, and I hate to tell you, I think we usually block shots too. Both of us.”

On if Cooper reminds him of Tyler Ulis …

“I thought of that too. Like, he plays a lot like he played. Tyler had a little different kind of game to him, but they have similarities.”

On Brandon Boston Jr. and Cooper being close friends and if that concerns him that Boston might try to keep up with his friend and play outside himself trying to match Cooper …

“We talked about it, so I’ve already addressed it with BJ. I said, ‘You know, you are getting better. Stay the course. You are getting better. Stay the course.’ For all my guys, I keep saying, if you’re not playing well offensively, do what Anthony Davis did. Do what Michael Kidd(-Gilchrist) did. They didn’t worry about it. They got it in other ways. They rebounded, they blocked shots, they would get it in transition. They weren’t worried about that. And then they would come back the next week, ‘Let me work on this so I can feel more comfortable.’ But BJ, he’s working, he’s trying. This has really been hard because some of his habits are not habits that will work at this level or the next level. They just won’t. And he knows it. He knows he’s not playing as well as he needs to.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Kentucky

Auburn hosts Kentucky on Saturday in Auburn Arena as the Tigers look to win their second straight.

Opening statement…

“We’ll have to play our best game of the year to beat Kentucky. We’re playing better. We’re improving. We’ve still got a ways to go defensively, turning the basketball over, protecting our backboard. Some of the things that Kentucky is really good at, we struggle with. They’re the benchmark of our league. So people will measure you against how you perform against the best. That’s how you should be measured. This game matters. What game in the SEC doesn’t matter? The last few games – Alabama and Georgia, our rivals – and Kentucky, you’re playing against the premier program in our conference. So it’s kind of an opportunity, and it’s an honor when you play against the Wildcats.”

On what Kentucky does well that Auburn struggles with…

“Keeping them off the boards. They’re a great offensive rebounding team. They lead the country in block shots. And so inside shots, if you don’t have advantage or disadvantage and you put it up there, that’s a block and it leads out to transition, which has been one of our challenges, getting back in transition. So those would be a couple of areas that I think would give us some problems.”

On an update on Justin Powell…

“It’s way too early to tell, in the sense that based on the concussion protocol, his scores had allowed him to get out there on Monday and start to move around a little bit. So he didn’t really practice, but he was at practice. After practice, he moved around a little bit. As a result, he didn’t continue to make progress with his concussion protocol. He needed to be able to do some other things to be in a position where he could play, so he really never practiced at full speed. One of the things you do when you get them back is you move around a little bit, see how they respond. And he didn’t respond great to moving around. Therefore, you have to shut him back down. He’s still day-to-day.”

On the importance of limiting turnovers Saturday…

“It’ll be important but, both teams play really hard. We try to bother and we try to turn some people over. That’ll obviously be a factor. Alabama, on Tuesday night, coming off of beating us at home, coming off of beating Tennessee at Tennessee, arguably playing the best basketball of any team in our league, and they played great. (John) Petty was incredible. And they made shots. They defended extremely well. Right now, Alabama is playing as well as anybody. So, while you think Alabama beating Kentucky at Rupp (Arena) is an upset, in some ways, it’s not just because how good Alabama is playing. Kentucky’s playing much better than they were early in the year. They’re sharing the ball. They’re getting to have an understanding of how to play with one another, which just does take some time. So, yes, turnovers will be a factor in the game.”

On Samir Doughty…

“Samir was really, really close to getting some two-way contracts. He and Austin Wiley were probably as hurt by the pandemic as much as any seniors coming out there because he had great senior years and were playing really, really well and would have benefited tremendously by a normal draft process – Portsmith, the Chicago combine, a draft in June – but instead, none of those things happened. So he’s trying to keep his powder dry right now and not necessarily take a contract overseas and stay right and ready for an NBA opportunity.”

On Kentucky blocking shots and Isaiah Jackson…

“They’re really, really long. Isaiah Jackson is the leading shot blocker per minutes played in the country. He’s got great timing. He’s got great length. He and JT Thor will be matched up and so those are two really long, athletic dudes. They’ve probably played against each other a little bit on the AAU circuit. We don’t have as many Nike players that played on the Nike circuit as much as Kentucky would. Devon Cambridge, Sharife (Cooper), Stretch (Babatunde Akingbola), Dylan Cardwell – all those guys played for AOT, and Brandon Boston was their teammate. So those guys are all really good friends. So that’ll be an interesting dynamic from the standpoint of seeing BJ again.”

On team’s improved free throw shooting…

“I told Andy (Burcham) last night on the show, the No. 1 reason why the free throw shooting has been better is because I wasn’t getting asked any questions about free throw shooting, and now that you’ve asked the question, you can go ahead and put the jinx on us. If we don’t shoot good free throws tomorrow, I’m going to put that on you. We work at them. We put them in pressure situations. We spend lots of time on it. One of our keys to try to be a championship team is being a good free throw shooting team. But obviously Sharife (Cooper) getting to the line, he’s a great free throw shooter. Allen (Flanigan) getting to the line, he’s a great free throw shooter. JT (Thor) has gotten to the line more, and he really has got a great stroke. He’ll shoot better than his percentage right now. Jamal Johnson has shot it better. So getting the right guys to the line, and then some of the guys have improved and worked really hard at trying to make them when they get an opportunity.”

On how Sharife Cooper’s return has helped Stretch (Babatunde Akingbola)…

“I’m sure it’s giving him confidence to be out there with one of his best friends and high school teammates. They’re like brothers for sure. So that probably gives Stretch some confidence, but also some responsibility. Sharife will get on him when he’s not in the right spot or helping him out in ball-screen defense or whatever it is. That’s part of the reason why Sharife came to Auburn. He wanted to play with Stretch. He wanted to play with Devan Cambridge. He wanted to play with Isaac Okoro. He wasn’t expecting Isaac to be gone after one year. Those were all high school teammates and AAU teammates. So it has helped Stretch. It’s helped Dylan (Cardwell) as well. It’s helped all of us.”

On the impact of Sharife Cooper, comparison to Tyler Ulis…

“That’s a great comparison because they’re both such incredible competitors and winners. Most people look at basketball players and they see their height. ‘Oh, you must play basketball, you’re tall.’ When you get guys like Tyler Ulis or Sharife Cooper or Jared Harper, can you imagine the amount of time and effort those guys put into their skills and into their bodies to overcome what they don’t have in height? I have such respect for those guys, including Sharife. Sharife is a self-made player. He’s also a really intelligent player. He is also able to see the floor in dimensions that we can’t see it. He sees it horizontally, he sees it vertically. It’s like the Matrix. Those great players have that feel. But he watches more tape than anybody. He studies the game. He studies the game at the next level. He makes everybody better for us for sure. Obviously, we have tried upon graduating Jared (Harper) – because don’t forget Jared was supposed to be a senior last year – we’ve been recruiting Sharife since he was a freshman in high school to basically take this program over after Jared and then last year J’Von (McCormick) and Samir (Doughty) moved on. That’s part of the reason why I started him the very first morning he was back because he is one our leaders.”

On any concern with Sharife Cooper’s turnovers…

“No, because with the efficiency of placing the ball in his hands, I’m asking him to do a lot. You’re going to turn the ball over some because he’s going to be the focus of every scouting report. I’m sure Kentucky is going to trap him and zone him and be physical with him, make him guard, and get him in foul trouble and do all the different things to try to wear him out. We’ve got to do a good job of making sure we don’t play him the entire game because we do ask a lot from him, and why wouldn’t you?”

On coaching strategy with one-and-done players…

“It doesn’t (affect my mindset). In recruiting, you certainly have got to prepare if you know somebody is going to be one-and-done. I think we make those decisions when the season is over. We did not anticipate Isaac (Okoro) being one-and-done. Isaac didn’t anticipate it. He came in, he worked so hard, he got put in the right positions. I had mentioned this pre-draft last year – I said he’s the most ready to play right away of anybody in the draft. That’s what I said. You look at his minutes, he plays all game long. You look at his plus-minus, he’s playing. He’s not leading them in scoring, but he’s leading them in affecting winning. We really weren’t able to prepare for that. With Sharife (Cooper) or any player, we’ll sit down at the end of the season and we’ll see what they tell us. Isaac really wanted to come back and play with Sharife this year. He really did. When we looked at where he was going to be and talked to NBA clubs, we said ‘Dude, that’s not an option. You’re not coming back. You can take classes all summer and you can hang out here, but you’re not playing for the Auburn Tigers next year.’ Our job is get to those guys ready, and when they’re ready, they need to go and start to take care of their families.”

On his thoughts if he had five or six one-and-done players every year…

“You’ve got a very short window to get them right and get them ready. But nobody has done it better than (John Calipari). Nobody has done it better than him. Are you asking me the question, ‘Would I like to have the best recruiting class in the country every year?’ Yeah, that’d be nice. But with that comes a lot of challenges. Putting that together, putting all that talent together, putting all those egos together, getting them to play hard together – nobody has done it better than Coach Calipari.”

Sharife Cooper named SEC Freshman of the Week

Sharife Cooper earned the SEC Freshman of the Week after his dazzling debut with 26 points, nine assists, four rebounds and three steals.

The long awaited debut for Sharife Cooper at Auburn came on Saturday and it was well worth it.

In the 94-90 loss to Alabama, Cooper scored 26 points, dished out nine assists, brought down four rebounds and had three steals in his first action in a Tigers uniform, earning him the SEC Freshman of the Week.

Per the Auburn release:

The Powder Springs, Ga. native became one of just two freshmen in the country, along with Powell, and one of just eight players overall to score 26 points and have nine assists in a game this season.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game,” Cooper said after the game. “Practice never can simulate a real game. So, the first couple minutes, I knew it was going to be a little rusty. I haven’t played in a long time, so I didn’t want to force anything. I wanted to kind of get the feel of the pick and roll, get the feel of some of their defense and get to feel of our offense. I haven’t even run our offense much. I knew once I kind of settled down, thing would get to flowing, the offense would look better, and it did. Late in the game, I made some mistakes. I really put this game on me because there were a lot of things that I did wrong in the closing seconds. But this is the first game and we’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m ready for this journey.”

Sharife Cooper cleared to play for Auburn

5-star point guard Sharife Cooper has finally been cleared to play for Auburn by the NCAA.

Auburn fans have been waiting a long time for this.

Sharife Cooper, a 5-star point guard and freshman for the Tigers, has been finally cleared to play by the NCAA after sitting out the first part of the season.

“Sharife Cooper has been deemed eligible by the NCAA,” Auburn athletics said in a statement. “He will play Saturday vs. Alabama.”

Per Auburn Undercover:

The five-star recruit has been on campus since June, but after practicing in the summer and during part of fall semester, Auburn held him out of action due to an eligibility question. Cooper was expected to be an immediate starter for the Tigers with the team replacing last year’s starter at the position, J’Von McCormick, who was a senior.

The Tigers host Alabama this afternoon in Auburn Arena.

Justin Powell listed as ‘day-to-day’ ahead of Tigers’ matchup against Ole Miss

Auburn guard Justin Powell is listed as day-to-day as the Tigers prepare for Ole Miss.

Freshman point guard Justin Powell hit his head late in the first half against Texas A&M on Saturday and is “day-to-day” according to Bruce Pearl. Powell attempted to return to the court in the second half but left for the locker room with 15:41 remaining because he did not feel well.

As the Tigers look ahead to Ole Miss Wednesday night and Alabama on Saturday, they’ll be doing so with little to no depth at point guard.

Powell has been extremely productive while fulfilling the role that originally was designated for Sharife Cooper who has yet to be cleared to play by the NCAA. The freshman three star from Kentucky leads the team with 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Powell is also second in scoring with 11.7 points per game just behind sophomore wing Allen Flanigan who is averaging 14.5 points per game.

Second behind Powell on the depth chart was sophomore Tyrell “Turbo” Jones who entered the transfer portal last season.

When discussing Auburn’s current point guard situation, Pearl said, “it’s got to be done by committee.” In the second half of the Texas A&M game, Flanigan assumed to role of point guard and helped the Tigers get within two. Unfortunately for the Tigers youth, inexperience, and the absence of a true point guard have really shown on the stat sheet with 37 turnovers in their first two conference games.

On turnovers, Pearl said, “We’ve got to do a better job with the ball, but we’ve also got to do a better job off the ball of getting open, screening, spacing, timing. And we do turn it over, make sure they’re forced turnovers and not where we just sort of hand it to them.”

 

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Texas A&M

Auburn will try to earn its first SEC win of the season when the Tigers take on Texas A&M on Saturday.

On Texas A&M…

“They’re probably better defensively than there are offensively. They really do a great job with their pressure, and then they drop back into a man-to-man that is pretty aggressive and they do a good job turning people over. Offensively, they do a great job of getting to the foul line., They get inside, play some mismatch basketball and they attack one-on-one close outs. So, we’ll have to do a better job of taking care of the ball ourselves, attacking pressure and then getting into a set and running our offense without turning the ball over. That really hurt us against Arkansas. That’s been an issue for us all year long. And then on the defensive end, just doing a better job of guarding more than just 1-on-1. We’ve got to be able to guard as a team. If we can improve in those areas, and we’ve got to continue to try to get better at the foul line because we’re leaving too many points out there on the board, that gives us a better chance to be competitive.”

On positive signs after watching Arkansas film…

“I thought our kids competed. If you make 15 3s and shoot 50 percent from the field, you had to do a lot of good things on the offensive end. I thought the guys played with some confidence. I thought they shared the ball really well. We’re going have to do that against Texas A&M, as well avoid drawing charges. I like the progress that we’ve made. We’ve got some real weaknesses that we’ve got to shore up.”

On Devan Cambridge…

“Devin went home for the break and gave a lot of thought to what were the things that he was able to do where he can make a difference on the floor and make shots, defensively, be an impact player being an elite rebounder, and those are the things that he needs to do for us to be a better team. And obviously for him, he can do those three things at a really high level. Just focus on that. I think getting in the gym and kind of spend some more time before we get back to school where he’s able to focus, he really does enjoy it. He’s a little bit of a gym rat and he plays better when he’s in the gym a lot.”

WATCH: Auburn basketball post’s hype video ahead of SEC play

Auburn basketball opens its SEC play on Wednesday night when the Tigers host 8-0 Arkansas in Auburn Arena.

Auburn begins SEC play on Wednesday night when the Tigers host 8-0 Arkansas.

While Auburn Arena won’t be at full capacity for the opener, the official Twitter account of Auburn basketball wanted to hype up all fans out there with this video.