College Students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95. Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to nchavanelle@yahoo.com.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe for free for 30 days w/code HAWGS30
NEW USERS | RETURNING USERS
FAYETTEVILLE — Just three weeks ago, Arkansas traveled to Auburn and opened SEC play with an impressive road win to improve to 9-0.
A lot has changed since then. Not only have the Razorbacks lost four of their last five, including three in ugly fashion, but the Tigers are a completely different team than they were in that game.
When Auburn visits Bud Walton Arena for a rematch Wednesday night, it will do so with five-star freshman Sharife Cooper. One of the best recruits the Tigers have ever landed, he missed the first 11 games of the season while the NCAA investigated his eligibility.
In the three games since he was cleared to play, though, head coach Eric Musselman said he’s been “absolutely incredible” and added that his usage rate is even higher than James Harden’s when he was with the Rockets.
As a true point guard, Cooper is averaging 21.7 points and 9.7 points for the Tigers. Over the last three decades, the only other freshman who put up comparable numbers over an entire season was Oklahoma’s Trae Young (27.4 ppg, 8.7 apg) in 2017-18.
“He does a good job of throwing lob passes to (Devin) Cambridge and to (Dylan) Cardwell,” Musselman said. “Great kick-ahead pass player in transition. He really sees the floor. It seems like he doesn’t have much trouble figuring out the defensive schemes that teams throw at him.”
Cooper nearly led Auburn to an upset over Alabama in his first game before notching a double-double (28 points, 12 assists) in a blowout win at Georgia and helping the Tigers beat Kentucky to improve to 8-6 overall and 2-4 in SEC play.
His presence on the court has made Auburn a completely different team. Before Cooper was ruled eligible, the Tigers were 196th in KenPom’s adjusted tempo rank. In just three games, they’ve risen to No. 82 in that category.
“They're playing faster right now,” Musselman said. “Sharife Cooper is as fast as any point guard we'll see all year, and he throws, in my opinion, as good of advance passes in transition as anyone that we've seen.”
When Arkansas beat Auburn 97-85 back on Dec. 30, one reason for its success was that it forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 27 points.
Leading up to that game, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl acknowledged the fact that he didn’t have a true point guard. With Cooper in the mix, that’s not the case and turnovers might be hard to come by for the Razorbacks.
Despite his high usage rate, the freshman has more than twice as many assists (29) as he does turnovers (14).
“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.”
The Razorbacks will once again have to worry about Allen Flanigan, too. The Little Rock Parkview product is the Tigers’ second-leading scorer at 14.3 points per game and had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first matchup. On top of that, now he no longer has to worry about running the point.
“I think he's got a little bit different role now,” Musselman said. “Obviously the first time we played him, you saw his ability to be a multi-positional player because he played a little point guard for them, he can play a little power forward for them, he can play off-guard, small forward (and) he can guard five positions, which is very unusual in college basketball.”
Their game against Auburn on Dec. 30 is also when the Razorbacks lost starter Justin Smith to an ankle injury. He got hurt in the first half and then missed the next four games after having surgery.
The graduate transfer from Indiana was expected to be out 3-6 weeks, but made a surprise return in Saturday’s game at Alabama - just 15 days after surgery. Musselman said the plan was him to play 15-20 minutes and he finished with 18.
He wasn’t 100 percent, as evidenced by him not being used on the opening jump, and he’s still working on regaining confidence in the ankle, as well as his timing and conditioning.
“Obviously the first game back from any type of surgery, you kind of expect a little bit of limited minutes, maybe a little rust,” Musselman said. “I’ve kind of felt like it would probably take two or three games, just like it does anybody, for the player to feel fully confident with the injury.”
Smith’s return didn’t have an impact on the final result, though, as Arkansas was blown out by the Crimson Tide. It was actually the second straight game in which the Razorbacks trailed by at least 30 and were never really competitive.
Both blowouts were on the road, so Wednesday’s game will provide an opportunity for them to get back on track in front of a home crowd.
“We play 30 games, we don’t play 10 games, so you’ve got to have the ability to bounce back,” Musselman said. “You’ve got to have the ability to put bad games behind you and you’ve got to have the ability to put good games behind you.”
Tip off against the Tigers is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
