Auburn turns keys over to new guard

Arkansas' Justin Smith (0) looks for open player as Southern's Ahsante Shivers (1) defends during a Dec. 9, 2020, game at Bud Walton Arena. Photo by David Beach, special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas' Justin Smith (0) looks for open player as Southern's Ahsante Shivers (1) defends during a Dec. 9, 2020, game at Bud Walton Arena. Photo by David Beach, special to the NWA Democrat-Gazette

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Auburn basketball team that plays the University of Arkansas tonight in Walton Arena will be far different than the Tigers the Razorbacks beat 97-85 three weeks ago to open SEC play.

Auburn now is led by Sharife Cooper, who missed the first 11 games before being declared eligible to play by the NCAA on Jan. 9 -- the day the Tigers took on Alabama.

Cooper, a 6-1 freshman from Powders Springs, Ga., is averaging 21.7 points, 9.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 33.3 minutes in three SEC games.

"If there's one word to describe Sharife Cooper, it's that he's electric," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said on his radio show. "Not that he's going to be fun to watch for us, but when you're watching them play on video or on TV, he's a player that's very exciting to watch. He makes home run plays.

"And his usage rate -- meaning how much he has the ball, how much he has assists, how much he has points or shot attempts -- is a higher percentage than James Harden had with the Houston Rockets. And we all know that when we watched the Rockets play, Harden had the ball in his hands the whole game."

Auburn was 0-3 in SEC games without Cooper and is 2-1 with him.

"That's the thing with basketball, you can change your program really quickly with one or two players," Musselman said. "He's that good of a player as a freshman to be able to step in and have that type of an impact with having no nonconference games to get his feet wet."

Tigers Coach Bruce Pearl used a football analogy to describe Cooper's importance to the team.

"It'd be like playing football without your quarterback," Pearl said. "We're obviously better with our quarterback. He makes everybody better. He is a pass-first, unselfish, high IQ point guard."

Cooper had 26 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds in the Tigers' 94-90 loss to Alabama. He had 28 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds in their 95-77 victory at Georgia, then 11, 8 and 3 when they beat Kentucky 66-59.

"Not often would you see a player score the ball at such a high clip and have such high assist numbers," Musselman said. "He really sees the floor. It seems like he doesn't have much trouble figuring out the defensive schemes that teams throw at him. He's a special player for sure."

Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Cooper -- a 5-star recruit and McDonald's All-American -- reminds him of some of the point guards on his teams previously, a group that includes Derrick Rose at Memphis and John Wall at Kentucky.

"Like some of the great guards I've had, the ball hits his hands and it may be out of his hand within a half second up the court," Calipari said. "What would that do to your team? That means they're flying because if they get a two-step lead, he will throw it.

"We recruited him, so I know how good he is. He's got a special talent."

Musselman on his radio show also praised Cooper's ability to find teammates for fast-break baskets.

"I think in my time coaching college basketball, he's the best advance passer I've seen at finding players in transition," Musselman said.

Pearl said Cooper has unusual court vision.

"He's able to see the floor in dimensions we can't see it," Pearl said. "He sees it horizontally. He sees it vertically. It's like a matrix."

Pearl said he's not surprised Cooper has been so effective despite missing 72 practices before the NCAA cleared him to rejoin the team in late December.

"He's been waiting and staying right and staying ready," Pearl said. "It just tells you how hard he worked on his own. How hard he worked by himself to stay right and ready.

"A lot of kids would have opted out and done something different. He hung in there because he knew that he was eligible and in good [academic] standing."

The Tigers had 18 turnovers in their first game against Arkansas that led to 27 points for the Razorbacks. Limiting turnovers tonight shouldn't be as much of an issue with Cooper running the offense.

"He's done a pretty good job of taking care of the ball when you factor in how much he has it in his hands," Musselman said. "So we've got to at least try and keep him in front of us as best we can and still have active hands like I thought we did with a lot of their guys last time we played."

Pearl said that with Cooper playing the point, Allen Flanigan, a 6-6 sophomore from Little Rock Parkview, is able to play more shooting guard -- his natural position. Flanigan led the Tigers with 21 points against Kentucky and is averaging 14.3.

"Now Allen Flanigan gets to play off the ball, where he can be a more dominant player," Pearl said.

One area where Cooper hasn't been excelling is shooting three-pointers. He's 1 of 16 from beyond the arc, including 0 of 9 the past two games.

Pearl said he has confidence in Cooper to hit perimeter shots.

"I'll put the ball in his hands and trust him," Pearl said. "That's what I do with my players, I trust them. And if he's open, he better shoot it."

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