5 things to know about the Auburn Tigers

1. Sharife Cooper

Despite only playing in two games so far this season, it is clear that the most talented player on the floor this afternoon will be Auburn’s Sharife Cooper. Formerly a Kentucky target, Cooper was a 5-star and top-25 prospect out of Marietta, Georgia in the Class of 2020. Just three days before this season started, Auburn announced that Cooper’s eligibility as being reviewed by the NCAA and that he was not going to be playing until it was resolved. Some questioned if Cooper would even stay at Auburn, or jump ship to head overseas for a season before entering the NBA Draft. In late December, Cooper re-joined the team for practices and a week ago he played in his first game. Through two games, Cooper is averaging 27 points, 10.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game.

While Auburn has only gone 1-1 in the two games that the 6’1″ freshman guard has played in, their quality of play as been exponentially better. A small sample size does make you question the overall impact on team stats, but before Cooper, the Tigers were averaging 74.4 points per game, with 15.3 assists, and 44.4% shooting from the field. In the two games with Cooper, the points per game have jumped to 92.5, the assists to 18, and the team shooting percentage to 51.6%. The straight line drives to the basket that Kentucky struggled with so much against Alabama will be an issue again today as Cooper will look to attack the Wildcat guards off the dribble, both to score and to set up for his teammates. If the Cats can stop the drives from Cooper, or at least contain them, they may be able to force turnovers, as Cooper has turned it over 10 times in his first two collegiate games.

2. Three-point shooting

What Kentucky saw in the loss to Alabama on Tuesday was evidence of what a hot three-point shooting team can do to you. The Crimson Tide hit a bunch of threes in the first half, which left the guards on an island to defend drives in the second half, and Alabama certainly took advantage. What Kentucky will see from Auburn today will be more of the same. Bruce Pearl’s squad has taken 376 threes this season, for an average of 28.9 per game, which ranks 13th in the country. Their three-point percentage as a team sits at 33.5%, seventh in the SEC, but when you take as many as Auburn does, it can be extremely effective. Auburn scores over 29 points per game on threes, with 9.7 makes per game.

As far as which individuals are a threat from three for the Auburn Tigers, it is mostly highlighted by four players, with others being capable, but not typically going to have a large amount of attempts. Cooper is just 1 for 11 through two games, so his outside shooting hasn’t caught up yet, but it will eventually. The four main shooters are led by Allen Flanigan, who is shooting 39.1% from three on over five attempts per game. Next is Justin Powell, a Prospect, Kentucky native who will most likely miss today’s game with a concussion, who shoots 44.2% from three on four attempts. Third would be Jaylin Williams, who takes 3.4 per game, making 36.4%, followed by Jamal Johnson’s 36.1% on just as many attempts. Auburn also has two other players shooting sub-30% on the year but are definitely willing to attempt if given the open shot.

3. Rebuilding year

We all know Kentucky’s mantra in the Coach Cal era centered around the reloading, not rebuilding philosophy. This season, the reloading hasn’t exactly panned out the way most had hoped. For most other schools, Auburn included, a mass exodus is followed with some rebuilding. Bruce Pearl had been building up a roster for a few years that was set to peak in last season’s NCAA Tournament. After going to the Final Four in 2019, the Tigers were taking a 25-6 record into the 2020 postseason before Covid hit. Unfortunately for Auburn, the end of last season meant the end of the Auburn career for a lot of players.

When comparing last season’s roster to this season’s, you’ll see that Auburn lost their top six scorers, top six rebounders, and top four passers. We know that Kentucky only returned Keion Brooks from last year’s contributors, but Auburn was in a similar situation, not returning a single player who averaged more than 13 minutes per game last season. Their leading returning scorer averaged just 4.2 points per game last season. It also means that the overall roster for Auburn is very young and set up for the future if these guys stick around. The Tigers’ roster has zero seniors and just three juniors, but nine sophomores and six freshmen.

4. Schedule so far

Without any stoppages for Covid reasons so far this season, Auburn hasn’t dealt with any long stretch without games, like a lot of teams have had to deal with. The Tigers have played all 13 of their scheduled games so far, compared to Kentucky only having been able to play 11 of their 13. The first few games of the season were a struggle for Auburn. They just barely got by Saint Joseph’s in their season opener, needing overtime to get the five-point victory. The next two games were dropped by the Tigers, one a blowout loss to the top team in the country, Gonzaga, while the other was an eight-point loss to UCF. The Tigers did rebound though, winning five straight games, albeit not against great competition.

Auburn’s five straight wins came over South Alabama, Memphis, Texas Southern, Troy, and Appalachian State. Following those five consecutive wins, Auburn dropped four straight games to start play in the Southeastern Conference. They were able to stop that skid on Tuesday with a win over Georgia to bring their overall record to 7-6 on the season. With Sharife Cooper only playing in two of those games, the four-point loss to Alabama and the win over Georgia, it is hard to look at the overall record and get a gauge for what the Tigers bring to the table. If Cooper continues that level of play, Auburn can be threat to make some noise in the SEC going forward.

5. Recent struggles against Auburn

While the first four teams that Kentucky has matched up against to start conference play were teams that the Wildcats had recently had success with, Auburn has been mostly the opposite. Kentucky took a winning streak versus their opponent into the last four games, continuing three of those streaks. However, against Auburn, Kentucky has struggled as of late. In the last eight games against Auburn and Bruce Pearl, Kentucky sits at just 4-4. Kentucky is 1-3 in their last four games at Auburn Arena, with the fourth loss being the Elite Eight overtime loss in 2019.

Before Bruce Pearl turned Auburn around in recent years, Kentucky had won 18 straight games against the Tigers from 2001 through 2015. The overall series still heavily favors Kentucky, as the Cats have a 95-21 lead on the Tigers, but the recent stretch has certainly been even. Despite Kentucky’s struggles on Tuesday with a team of similar style to Auburn, the Tigers sit at just a 3-point favorite in this afternoon’s game.

Go Cats. Beat Tigers.

@BrettBibbinsKSR