Auburn point guard Jared Harper was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday after the Tigers improved to 10-2 this week with victories over Oklahoma and UConn.
The Mableton, Georgia native had back-to-back career-highs while averaging 21.5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He totaled 21 points, including 16 in the second half, in Auburn’s 74-70 win over Oklahoma, which made the Final Four last season, in the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Birthday of Basketball in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Harper also knocked down 11 of his 12 free throw attempts, including 7-of-8 in the final 2:02 to help the Tigers put the Sooners away. He also had three rebounds, two steals and an assist.
In the 70-67 overtime win at four-time national champion UConn in Hartford, Connecticut last Friday, Harper upped his career-high with 22 points as he stuffed the stat sheet with all career-highs of five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
His layup over the long UConn front line with 27 seconds remaining in overtime proved to be the game-winner for Auburn. He also assisted on the game-tying three-point shot by Danjel Purifoy with 1:04 remaining in the extra period.
The 5-foot-10 freshman made 5-of-6 free throws at UConn to finish 16-of-18 on during the two game stretch in Connecticut. Harper improved his free-throw percentage from 60 percent to 68.3 percent during the two games.
Harper ranks in five SEC stat categories, fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3), tied for fifth in steals (1.8), ninth in 3-point field goal pct. (.375), tied for 10th in 3-point field goals made (2.4) and 20th in scoring. (12.8).
At 10-2, Auburn has won 10 games before Christmas for the first time since 1999-2000, when the Tigers entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
Auburn will return to Auburn Arena Thursday as they open SEC play, hosting Georgia. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CST on ESPNU.
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