Tag: Sharife Cooper auburn

Five starters led by Allen Flanigan help Auburn continue dominance of Tennessee

All five Auburn starters finished with double-digit points as the Tigers and Bruce Pearl continued their dominance of Tennessee.

We know that Bruce Pearl loves beating some teams more than others, but the dominance he has going on Tennessee is starting to get a little silly.

Without star point guard Sharife Cooper, missing Justin Powell for the 14th straight game and riding a three-game losing streak, Auburn took it to No. 25 Tennessee in a 77-72 victory over the Volunteers, the sixth-straight victory for the Tigers against Rick Barnes’ side.

It wasn’t just one player that made the difference either as all five starters reached double digits in points led by Allen Flanigan with 23. Flanigan played one of the best games of his young career, producing seven rebounds and three assists to just two turnovers even though the ball was in his hand quite a lot.

Quiet for most of the game, Jamal Johnson turned in big plays during crunch time, especially when it came to free throw shooting. The junior from Birmingham finished 6-of-8 from the line and put up 14 points and just one turnover while handling point guard duty. Devan Cambridge, cold as could be at the beginning, made some big buckets in the second. Jaylin Williams was clutch from the line, making 8-of-10 free throws while J.T. Thor used his length to frustrate the Vols on offense.

It was just another example of a Pearl-coached team taking it to the Volunteers. While Tennessee has been hot and cold this season, it still came into the game 16-6 and as one of the top five teams in the conference. Yet the Tigers — these young Tigers — enforced their will on the Vols, coming down with 16 offensive rebounds and forcing 13 turnovers from a veteran squad.

The defense, which Pearl said on Friday had no choice but to play better, smothered the Tennessee shooters and wide-open looks were few and far between. Santiago Vescovi, who made two quick threes in the first half, never saw another shot go in the basket. Out of their 72 points, 43 came from true freshmen Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer.

A microcosm of the game came with a little more than two minutes left and the Tigers up by 10. Tennessee could not find an open shot and, after an inbounds pass by the Vols, the players had no idea the shot clock was running down and Auburn forced a shot clock penalty.

The credit goes to each player for how they responded to Pearl’s challenge after a rough outing against Florida on Tuesday night. With no tournament or post-season play coming and only three games left on the schedule, one wondered how the Tigers would fight at the end of the season.

That answer was clear from the very first 20 minutes of the game. Auburn scraped and fought and, even when early turnovers reared their ugly head, they still defended.

It all led to a five-point victory that this young group of guys can take as momentum into the last two matchups and into the offseason. Auburn teams of the past may have given up or downright quit, but with Pearl in charge, you know that isn’t an option, especially when the opponent is wearing that bright orange.

Dylan Cardwell celebrated by doing the worm on the floor postgame and I’m sure Pearl will cherish another victory over his former team. He should be used to it by now, though. The Volunteers have no answer for Auburn right now.

Bruce Pearl updates status of Sharife Cooper ahead of Tennessee game

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl gave an update on the injury status of point guard Sharife Cooper.

Auburn will likely be without its best player when the Tigers host No. 25 Tennessee on Saturday as Sharife Cooper is listed as doubtful for the matchup.

He didn’t practice yesterday,” Bruce Pearl said on Friday. “He was there all day, he shot around a little bit. He is in the training room as many hours as Clark Pearson will allow him to be in the training room. You know, he had a pretty good ankle sprain, and they typically take a week or three or four. He turned it pretty good. But, he’s actually bounced back and we’ll see.”

Here’s everything else Pearl had to say ahead of the Tennessee game.

Opening statement…

“We’re getting ready for Tennessee. It’s been a good rivalry the last few years because the games that we’ve played against Tennessee have been meaningful. Tennessee right now, they’re the third-most efficient defense in the country. They lead the league in scoring defense, allowing only 63 points a game. While we’ve been focused on the fact that we need to make so much progress defensively because we were scoring 80 points a game – now without Sharife (Cooper), we know we score about 10 less. How many less do you score against Tennessee? What do you have to hold Tennessee down to now to have a chance to win? Our ability to try and defend them down is going to be really important to our ability to be able to have a chance to win this basketball game. Victory Bailey is playing great right now. He really shoots the ball well. That helps their offense. Their two freshmen, Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer, they’re accounting for about 42 percent of their offense in the last six games. That was probably the best freshman backcourt in the country. We had both of those guys on campus for visits. Jaden was somebody that I was recruiting when I was at Tennessee. He was coming to camp when he was just a middle-schooler. I don’t think he visited many places. He always kind of wanted to be a Tennessee Vol. And then Keon Johnson’ mom is Conswella Sparrow who was a great player for our women’s program here at Auburn, and she’s still a great Auburn woman. But Keon grew up right there in central Tennessee, in the middle part of the state. We just couldn’t get him to break the allegiance because he’s a loyal kid and he wanted to play for the home team. We get the pleasure of playing against a couple guys we recruited really hard for many years.”

On AUTLIVE…

“This Saturday is the AUTLIVE game. You guys, I’ll say it in advance, thank you to all of you for continuing to deliver the message. I know we’re making a difference. Last year during the AUTLIVE game, we were able to partner with the Mike Slive Foundation and a prostate screening company up in Birmingham and we screened a couple hundred men over the age of 40. About five percent of those guys got information that they had some things that they needed to check into, which means we saved lives a year ago. Now with COVID, we obviously can’t do that today, but the t-shirts, the prayer bracelets, AUTLIVE.com is the way that we can continue to create that awareness campaign and raise the money that will go to these facilities: the Russell Medical Foundation in Alexander City, Camp Smile-a-Mile in Birmingham that’s for focusing on kids, Coosa Valley Medical Center in Sylacauga, the Children’s Hospital, one of the greatest children’s hospitals in our country in Birmingham, East Alabama Medical Center right here in Auburn/Opelika, Joy to Life focusing primarily on breast cancer in Montgomery, the aTeam ministries also in Birmingham in Homewood, also focusing on children and childhood cancers, the Cancer Wellness Foundation, the biggest one in Montgomery, and then Russell Hill up in Huntsville, Alabama. So you can see how we spread out throughout the state, and the funding will go to patients that are battling cancer that have a hard time making their ends meet financially. I appreciate everybody’s support.”

On Sharife Cooper’s status…

“I think he is doubtful. He didn’t practice yesterday. He was there all day, he shot around a little bit. He is in the training room as many hours as Clark Pearson will allow him to be in the training room. You know, he had a pretty good ankle sprain, and they typically take a week or three or four. He turned it pretty good. But, he’s actually bounced back and we’ll see. He obviously won’t play until he’s ready and that has nothing to do with who he is or how great a player he is. We would treat everybody the exact same way. The only other caveat that I could consider would be that obviously at this point we’re not playing to get in the tournament. So if he had to strap it up to try to play the last game to get a win to get in, or you know it was going to be something as far as a seeding, maybe. He’ll get back as fast as he can, but he won’t get back until he is ready.”

On telling players to step up on defense due to less scoring…

“Offensively, maybe I’ll put the ball in his (Sharife Cooper) hands and create space and ball screens and pace. There’s nothing I can do offensively better for us that statistically makes greater sense than to do that every play. We don’t have that now. We won’t be as high scoring and we won’t be as dangerous offensively, so we have to find a way with what we have. But, we have no choice but to do a better job defensively. As a result of Sharife not playing, we’ll be bigger and longer. We’re going to have to do a better job at guarding Tennessee. The issue is turnovers. Tennessee does a nice job of turning you over. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they’re probably going to press a little bit more and trap us up a little bit more and try to create some offense from their defense because we don’t have a point guard. I’m sure we’ll get plenty of that.”

On Lior Berman and Preston Cook getting more reps…

“I would anticipate those guys having a little bigger role. I think the challenge is we need them to practice. Yesterday, they had to play Tennessee a little bit. I need to play against those guys yesterday in order to play Tennessee tomorrow. They didn’t have a chance to get a lot of reps with us. They’ll get some today. I don’t think it’s about reps in practice. They get enough reps in practice. It’s about game reps and game minutes. They’re both ready, They’re both prepared. They’re both really good players. I’m excited for them to be able to get some playing time and maybe get a couple rotations during the course of the game, not just in foul trouble, but actually regular rotations.”

On playing Allen Flanigan at point guard and how that’s helping him in the future…

“Asking him to do some things with the ball, to play make, I think it’s great. It’s gives a player that’s off the ball perspective on just how much is one the point guard. I’ll give you an example. Bryce Brown always wanted to play point guard. He wanted to be recruited as a point guard, he wanted to play point guard, he thought in the NBA that was going to be his position. There were times where I would call plays for the point guard and that would bother him a little bit because he’s a great scorer, he’s a great player and he wanted to win. It was all good stuff and he was all in the right place. But, what he didn’t realize until I played him a little bit at the position that the play calls for the point guard aren’t necessarily for the point guard to score, but for the point guard to get the ball to the other guys to score, which Bryce obviously liked to do. There was a part of him that probably said, ‘you can have this.’ I’m sure Allen in playing the position, there’s a part of him that has a greater appreciation for what Justin Powell was doing or what Sharife (Cooper) had to do. ‘Why are you calling Sharife’s number all the time?’ I’m calling Sharife’s number all the time to get you a shot or get you in an advantage/disadvantage for you to go make a play.”

LSU 50, Auburn 34: 1st half analysis and thoughts

Auburn enters halftime trailing LSU by a large deficit as the Bayou Bengals have dominated on both ends of the court.

Well, that is not the first half that Auburn needed after a week off.

Rust didn’t seem to be a problem when Auburn started the first few minutes of the matchup against LSU as the Tigers jumped out to a five-point lead but that didn’t last as the Bayou Bengals got their feet underneath them and started dominating.

The Tigers have fought back a bit and trail by a 16-point deficit for Bruce Pearl’s side at the half.

Here are some reactions from the first 20 minutes:

  • Sharife Cooper is having trouble against these taller and longer teams such as LSU and Kentucky. He started to get things going with drives to the basket in the second part of the half, though. He leads the Tigers with — points.
  • Oh, and Sharife? He has ZERO assists so far.
  • Cooper might be the most talked about freshman in the SEC but Cam Thomas is the best of all of them. He had his way with Auburn defenders int he first half, scoring 13 points in the first half.
  • The Tigers are getting absolutely bullied down low by LSU and its not even close.
  • You either get bad Allen Flanigan or the good Allen Flanigan and so far today it has been the latter. He needs to become more consistent if he wants to be counted on.
  • I tweeted about this but a reminder that Will Wade has not had to sit out a game by NCAA rules despite everything he has been caught on tape saying yet Cooper was forced to miss the first 11 games of the season. NCAA at its best!
  • I’m not going to harp on it but this team has no idea to rebound. It is laughable at this point.
  • Ummmm …. let’s see. How about that pick up of 4-star defensive end Dylan Brooks today!!!! That was great, wasn’t it? Really helped the 2021 signing class rise up in the rankings.
  • Back to basketball and as good as JT Thor looked offensively against Kentucky, he hasn’t found that touch yet in this game.
  • Speaking of touch, Dylan Cardwell’s hands continue to be a problem inside. It seems he doesn’t have the confidence in catching a pass without overthinking it. That’s just my view of it, though. What I’m saying is I don’t think he will be a tight end on the football team anytime soon. Still love his heart and hustle.
  • I think what coaches have learned from this season is that wearing a suit during games on the sideline is absolutely unnecessary. Maybe Bob Huggins was right all along with his fashion sense, though I wouldn’t recommend a sweater either.

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Mississippi State

Auburn hosts Mississippi State on Thursday evening in Auburn Arena as the Tigers try to get back on the winning side of things.

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Opening statement…

“Good afternoon. I’d like to start the conference off with a boom and congratulate my good friend Gus Malzahn and his new head coaching position at UCF. UCF is getting a great coach and a better man, and as much as anybody, I’m happy for the student-athletes there because he’s going to make a difference in their lives. I’m happy for Gus.

“As you might anticipate, there’s a possibility that there could be a delay with tomorrow’s game against Mississippi State. We’re still awaiting final word, but obviously there’s a lot of weather over there and we are in the process of discussing what that delay might look like. I don’t have any final information on it, but I do want you to know it’s being discussed and it could be forthcoming. It’s all weather-related.

“Talking about Mississippi State, they’re really good defensively. When they hold teams underneath 60 points, they’re 41-5 (under Ben Howland). They’re big. They’re like Kentucky. They’re the sixth-tallest team in the country. They do a great job of protecting the rim. They identify with their defense. They’re physical. They also do a good job of defending without fouling. Offensively, we are very much a 3 and a free team. We like the 3 ball, we spread it, but we also do things where we feel like we force people to foul us. We only went to the line 10 times at Kentucky. We actually only shot three free throws on all of our two-point attempts, which was really interesting. It’s never happened to me in my career. Devan Cambridge had a 1-on-1, and then Allen Flanigan had an And-1, and that was it on two-point shots. We’ve got to do a better job of being able to make our 3s and get fouled because it’s a part of our offense. That’s something that Mississippi State is also good at. I just want to compliment the sophomores in this game. I think you’ve got a collection of some of the best sophomores in the country. Ben (Howland) had some really good freshmen last year in (Iverson) Molinar and (DJ) Stewart, (Tolu) Smith was sitting out. And we had Allen Flanigan and Jaylin Williams and Devan Cambridge. It’s been talked about, and I appreciate that – the jump that all those freshmen have made in their sophomore season. Allen has scored in double figures 19 times this season, which leads the SEC. That says a lot about how much we rely on him and how important his consistency is. JT Thor was the only freshman in the last decade to have 24 and 9 at Rupp as a visiting team, and Sharife (Cooper) became one of two players since 2010 to have 14, 8 and 6 in Rupp on the road. It wasn’t good enough to get it done. Still obviously disappointed but getting on to the next one and take the next challenge. Obviously, Mississippi State and Auburn are tied right there in the middle, the beginning of the lower half of the conference, and so this game will have implications as far as those final standings are concerned.”

On the similarities between Auburn and Mississippi State…

“I think personnel-wise, we’ve both lost a lot of players from a year ago. They’ve still got (Abdul) Ado back as a very veteran inside player. That would be one of the differences. As far as roster experience is concerned, Auburn and Mississippi State are two of the teams that are definitely in a rebuilding year.”

On what he wants to see the team improve on in the final five-game stretch…

“It’s some of the same things that we’ve talked about all along. We’ve lost however many games since Sharife came back by a total of, I think, 15 points, maybe an average of three a game. The things we’ve talked to the guys about – I remember Phillip Fulmer talking to a team before a football game and he said, ‘You don’t have to have an ‘S’ on your chest, you don’t have to be Superman, but you better represent that ‘T’ on your helmet.’ In other words, you don’t have to do spectacular things, but you’ve got to block out. If you can’t catch it, at least tackle it and don’t turn it over. You don’t have to do spectacular things, but you’ve got to be able to communicate your actions. It’s simple stuff. It’s stuff that we struggle with over and over again. Sometimes you can make those changes within a year, sometimes it does take an offseason. Obviously, our offense is better than our defense. We don’t have to make spectacular changes, just solid ones.”

On the team battling back from Kentucky’s second-half run…

“I appreciate you shaping that in the way of giving those guys a compliment. They certainly didn’t quit. They do have the ability to come back and they’ve done that all season, but where I would take us to task would be how did it get to 14? How did it go from a six-point lead at halftime to 14? Was Kentucky 20 points better than us in that stretch? They were better, but not 20 points better. We may have contributed to it with some early shots or lack of execution. That’ll happen on the road. You can tell the building got a little lit and they were the more aggressive team to start the second half. I think we contributed to it a little bit. My point is rather than that have been a 20-point run, it could’ve been a 10-point run, then all of a sudden, you’re not battling back from 14, you’re battling back from less than that and now you got a better chance to win the game. Again, you’ve got to go through it.”

On wanting to win the final three home games…

“We know that would be big, but obviously, Mississippi State is a game that’s from conference standings. The winner of this game has a chance to finish above the other one with only four games left. The Florida and Tennessee games are against two NCAA Tournament teams. They’re seeded third and fifth or sixth. So all of our games are against good teams. We’ve won three games on the road, we’ve always been a decent road team, but there’s just not the same home-court advantage because the crowd’s not there. It was easier to win at South Carolina, Georgia, and Vanderbilt than it would’ve been in a normal year. It’s certainly easier to win at Auburn. I think that nationally, those numbers bear that out as well.”

On how to improve on the turnovers…

“You’ve just go to your strengths and stay away from your weaknesses, take the passer off the hook. You’ve got to tackle the ball. It may not be in the best spot, but you’ve just got to take the passer off the hook. And playing off two feet, being under control. Those are all the things that we all kind of do and learn. Look, the guys I put in actions all the time are Sharife Cooper and Allen Flanigan. They’re going to turn the ball over more than any of the other guys because I am putting them into situations where they have got to force the action, and they’ve got to force the action without turning it over as much.”

On Derek Fountain while preparing for Mississippi State…

“He’s a stretch-4 man. He can really shoot it. When they play him, they put four shooters on the floor and when they play (Tolu) Smith, who doesn’t shoot it, they’ve got two monster inside players and are physical inside. So, you’ve got to be able to play a team with a stretch-4/a shooting 4, and then you’ve got to be able to play a team without one. Your defensive game plan and how you guard, you’ve got to have some adjustment on that.”

On what he is most proud of with his sophomores…

“I think they have all met my expectations, which is hard to do. I ask Allen (Flanigan) and Jaylin (Williams) to do a lot, and I think they’ve both responded. I think Allen could be the best defensive guard in the country. He is not yet, but I think he could be. That’s a lot to ask, right? And I want to see him have a better assist/turnover ratio. I want Jaylin to do more. I want him to score more, I want him to rebound more, I just want him to be more active and more aggressive and more physical. I don’t ask Devan (Cambridge) to do as much, and so Devan takes what he gets, and he is really productive. He made a lot of progress in this offseason working on some things, so that I could force him into situations where he would need to do more. So the example would be Samir Doughty. Samir Doughty would be a great example of I really didn’t ask Samir to do that much until his senior year when he was ready. And so that would be an example of the progression. Allen has made more of it this year. Devan has made some of it, but he’ll make even more of it next year.”

On the challenge for Auburn’s big men against Mississippi State’s big men…

“You saw that challenge against (Olivier) Sarr and (Isaiah) Jackson, even though Jackson is a freshman, and I reminded our guys he’s a freshman, too. He got the better of us at times against Kentucky. Ben Howland watches tape, too. So you know he watched Kentucky push us all over the parking lot on the inside in the second half. I would imagine Mississippi State is going to go inside, just like Kentucky did. We’ve got to do a better job at defending the post and that is something we obviously need to work on. Some of it is Jaylin (Williams) is going to be giving away 30 pounds and JT (Thor) is going to be giving away 50 pounds. Some of it is physical and some of it we as a team can overcome.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said following Auburn’s road win at Vanderbilt

Auburn snapped a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night by defeating Vanderbilt, 73-67, in Nashville.

Opening Statement…

“It’s great to get a win on the road in the league. We had to fight through some adversity. I think some of it was a little self-inflicted. Sharife (Cooper) played great in the second half. Didn’t have a turnover in the game. That was just fun to watch. Let him get downhill, he’s so hard to guard, so unselfish. I thought Jamal Johnson was terrific in the first half. Really picked us up. Devan Cambridge in the second half. Stretch gave us some great minutes off the bench, picked us up on the defensive end. It was a good win, but while we made a little progress with our defense, offensively way too many turnovers. We didn’t execute very well. We’ve got to play a lot better if we’re going to win again.”

On the biggest difference offensively in the second half…

“In the first half, Jamal Johnson was making 3s. But obviously in the second half, we shot the ball better from 3. We got better looks. We were 6 for 9 (from 3). They played a little bit of zone for a couple possessions and we hurt them with some shots. We got into the bonus and we made free throws. That was a real positive. I thought we did a pretty good job of guarding Vanderbilt. We did a great job with the prep. Our scouting report was to make them make tough 2s and not give them the 3 ball. Early on they did. I think they knew what our scouting report was going to be and they took advantage of it early. But then after that, we were able to settle down, and they missed a lot of shots that we thought they would miss. We didn’t let (Scotty) Pippen be a playmaker. He’s really good as a playmaker. He only had one assist tonight.”

On being able to grab rebounds when the shots weren’t falling…

“It is important. We had 29 defensive rebounds. They only had 8 offensive rebounds. They are not a big offensive rebounding team. They are a big shot, take-it-and-make-it team. I thought our guys did a good job getting on the offensive glass. Jaylin Williams rebounded the ball really well. Allen Flanigan with seven defensive rebounds. That was really key for us tonight. Allen played really good defense. All of our guards picked it up in a big way defensively, and we needed them to. They made progress tonight in that regard.”

On encouraging Jamal Johnson after he was in a slump the last few games…

“I think he has got to feel really good about his contribution. He’s got to feel really good about that. We don’t win without him. We don’t beat Vanderbilt without him, period. So, it says a lot about his mental toughness and his confidence and playing within himself. I think the other thing too is Jamal didn’t have a turnover. So he did what he did, went to his strengths, stayed away from his weaknesses, played really good defense and made shots and didn’t try to do too much. As a result, he was really productive, he doesn’t have a turnover, and he is plus-15 or so for the game. It just translates.”

On the luxury of having Sharife Cooper when the game is tight…

“It is point guards winning. It is why you have got to have a great quarterback. Put it in their hands and let them make plays. I thought there were a couple of decisions that Sharife made where he threw the ball to some guys, and look, I would rather have you keep it. I would rather have the ball in your hands, put guys in positions to not turn the ball over. And a couple times we had some breakdowns there.”

Sharife Cooper up to No. 9 in ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft

Auburn freshman point guard Sharife Cooper continues to rise in ESPN’s NBA mock draft.

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Auburn fans that want to see Sharife Cooper stay around for another season on the Plains should look away now.

The star freshman point guard has risen up ESPN’s NBA draft stock in the last week or two and is at No. 9 in their latest mock draft.

Through nine games with the Tigers, Cooper is averaging 20.3 points, 8.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, the first two categories leading the Tigers in that time span.

Thought to be the next one-and-done for Bruce Pearl, Cooper had to sit out the first 11 games of the season due to eligibility issues. He made his debut on Jan. 9 against Alabama. Cooper has recorded three double-doubles including this past Saturday against Ole Miss when he scored 15 points and had 14 assists in the Tigers’ overtime loss.

Twitter reacts to Auburn’s loss to Ole Miss

Auburn fans weren’t happy with the charge call against Sharife Cooper or the Tigers blowing another big lead in the loss to Ole Miss.

Auburn lost to Ole Miss 86-84 today. Now I’ve got one word to say to you all about this: inexplicable. Despite leading by double digits the Tigers couldn’t come away with a win and they advance to 10-10 overall.

Large leads aren’t safe with this Auburn team. Remember that 12-point lead Auburn had over Arkansas at halftime that just mysteriously evaporated? Oh, and that blown call at the end of the game where Sharife got mugged yeah that sucked too. This time the officials gifted us with a phantom charge call against Sharife that robbed the Tigers of a bucket and eventually set up Ole Miss to tie the game.

I’m tired y’all, but I still love Auburn. Here’s Twitter’s reactions.

 

 

 

‘Baby Come Back’: A playlist asking Sharife Cooper to return for another season

Auburn guard Sharife Cooper is a talent that we hardly ever see and Shea Brennaman made him a playlist to ask him to stay for 2021-22.

Sharife Cooper deserves the world. He has single-handedly changed Auburn’s level of play and is hands-down the best freshman player in the country. Through seven games he’s averaging eight assists, five rebounds, and 21 points per game. NBA scouts are drooling over him with many mock drafts projecting him to be selected late in the lottery round.

Like every other Auburn fan I want Sharife Cooper to return next year because think of the insane possibilities. The talent coming in + the talent already on the floor = making another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Last season we were robbed of seeing Isaac Okoro in postseason fashion and, so far this season, we have been robbed of seeing Sharife Cooper play alongside Justin Powell. Powell has been sidelined since sustaining a concussion against Texas A&M in early January whereas Cooper was not eligible to play until a week later.

In summary, I just want Sharife Cooper to have a full season playing with his friends and in an effort to convince him to return I have prepared him a playlist of songs that show him how much Auburn fans love him.

Opinion: Auburn gains valuable lesson, experience in loss to No. 2 Baylor

Auburn couldn’t hold off a big run by No. 2 Baylor at the beginning of the first half in a 84-72 loss to the Bears.

If there ever was a sign that it wasn’t Auburn’s day in Waco, it happened around the nine-minute mark in the second half when a tipped ball popped right to Baylor’s Matthew Mayer on the top of the key and the forward drained a three-pointer.

It definitely wasn’t the difference as the second-ranked Bears, a team full of veterans, came out and imposed their will on the still-learning Tigers, but it showed that when you are good, the bounces are likely going to go your way.

The end result was a 84-72 defeat that was never in question after the Bears came out of the locker room in the second half and made their first four field goal attempts while Auburn struggled to even try and keep pace.

Yet this was what many expected to happen. Baylor isn’t undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation for nothing. The team is built for a national championship run under Scott Drew and, with a starting lineup that Bruce Pearl half-jokingly said was older than that of the Chicago Bulls, the Bears know how to punish young teams still learning. That is exactly what this Auburn team is: a group that are still trying to find their way, the best way to use their talents within the team and a group that is more green than Baylor’s away uniforms.

There were some positives of course to take out of it and that doesn’t even include the chance to battle against a team that is one of the favorites to win it all this year. That is a lesson that the Tigers will take from this loss. If you can battle this team for 20 minutes and stand toe-to-toe? Nothing will scare these guys in the future.

Sharife Cooper battled his heart out as well despite getting checked by bigger players. A “bad” game for the freshman turned into 15 points, seven rebounds  and five assists against a defense surely focused on taking him out of his game no matter the consequences.

The Tigers never quit, either. It would have been easy to throw in the towel while down 20 in the final 10 minutes but, let’s face it, Bruce Pearl wouldn’t allow that. Neither would this team.

There’s no shame in losing this game no matter how lopsided the score became. When Baylor catches fire like they did in the first 12 minutes of the second half, no one, not even Gonzaga, may be able to stay with them. They are just that good and you just have to tip your hat to them. It was a display of pure dominance for a while and even shots that were contended ended up going in.

Take the loss for what it was. Learn from it. Build on it. That is all you can possibly do.

With the future of this team so bright, we may look back at this game as one of the building blocks for a lot of victories.

Sharife Cooper, Davion Mitchell matchup highlights Auburn’s tilt with Baylor

Auburn star Sharife Cooper will match up against former Tiger Davion Mitchell when the Tigers play Baylor on Saturday.

Sharife Cooper has already battled a few good guards since joining Auburn on Jan. 9 but no matchup will be as big as what faces him on Saturday in Baylor’s Davion Mitchell.

Tigers fans are aware of the Bears’ Mitchell as he played for the orange and blue back in 2017-18 when Auburn won the SEC regular season title. As a freshman, the Hinesville, Ga. native averaged 3.7 points and 1.9 assists on 17.1 minutes per game.

With Jared Harper permanently in place as the starter, Mitchell decided to transfer prior to the 2018-19 season much to the chagrin of Bruce Pearl.

“I’m so grateful for Davion coming to Auburn,” Pearl said. “I hated when he left. It broke my heart. He was playing with and competing with Jared Harper. Jared was a year older and had a little bit of an edge. I would have loved to have had a chance to play them together. If Davion stayed, we never would’ve seen J’Von McCormick. So it worked out great for everybody.”

The move to the Big 12 school has definitely been good for Mitchell. As a redshirt sophomore last season, he played 32.4 minutes per game for Scott Drew and became an impact player, putting up 9.9 points, 3.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game on his way to earning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

He’s been even better this year, averaging 12.9 points, 5.9 assist and 2.2 steals per game for undefeated and second-ranked Baylor.

It is Mitchell’s physicality that can be troublesome for the smaller Cooper. At 205 pounds, the Baylor guard has at least 25 pounds on the star freshman guard and will use that to his advantage when trying to get Cooper out of his game.

Pearl, though, isn’t worried about Cooper backing down.

“He’ll do fine,” Pearl said. “He’ll respect Davion for sure. Everything we do will be harder to do because Davion will be guarding him. But they’ve got other guys that can guard as well. It’s Baylor against Auburn. It’s not Davion against Sharife. There’s not bad blood at all between Auburn and Baylor, Davion and our coaches. We love him, we miss him and I’m proud of him. But it’ll be a great matchup of great players.”