The Auburn men's basketball team earned their sixth win of the season against UAB in Birmingham on Saturday night. Here are the final grades on the Tigers 74-70 road victory.
Guards: B+
The Auburn backcourt looked good against a larger UAB perimeter rotation.
Jared Harper lead the way with 21 points, on 5-of-8 shooting from the three-point line. Harper’s career night scoring was the spearhead of the backcourt scoring output.
Mustapha Heron was able to once again find a groove, get to the free throw line and convert 5-6 free throws. Heron finished the game shooting 3-9 from the field with 11 points. Heron didn’t look for outside shots, only attempting one 3-pointer. He instead opted to attack the paint, where the Blazer defense stood ready.
The Blazer front court found a way to slow Heron, down get him to the line and played him physically causing him to miss several contested looks. This hasn’t been the tale of the tape for Heron this year, he has been able to average nearly 16 points. Heron did continue to show off his versatility corralling in 7 rebounds. Heron continues to give glimpses of next level athleticism.
Bryce Brown did his part defensively recording two blocks and a steal. Brown’s quickness was vital to the Auburn defense slowing down William Lee and company. Brown finished the game with 7 points on 3-7 shooting.
Ronnie Johnson’s veteran leadership proved to be a vital factor for the Auburn victory. Johnson helped spark a 14-2 run in the second half for Auburn, he finished with 8 points in 14 minutes.
Harper was the overall best player from this group. He not only hushed the crowd with contested threes, but also was finishing on several NBA size defenders. Harper finished the game on a total 5-10 shooting. Once his three stroke became lethal, he utilized his quickness to dash to the rim off hesitations. This helped Harper get to the free throw line 9 times and convert on 6.
Big Men: C+
Auburn’s biggest struggle all year has been down low post-defense. Once again this seemed to ail the Tigers. Auburn was out rebounded 40-31, and UAB had more free throw attempts compared to Auburn (27-22). The Blazer front court out-sized Auburn and it showed on the stat sheet.
Horace Spencer started but only logged 17 minutes because of foul issues. Spencer had five personal fouls and finished with 2 points. The bright spot of his performance was his tenacity. Spencer grabbed four offensive rebound and finished the game with seven. He also used his long arms to steal and block the ball twice from the Blazers.
LaRon Smith played more minutes then Spencer (19). Smith recorded 3 blocks, however he didn’t help with the rebounding battle only recording one board. At the center position Smith must do better looking towards the future. Auburn’s gang of forwards that are asked to play a hybrid of guard-forward mixture played well defensively.
Veterans TJ Lang and T.J. Dunans combined for 9 points off the bench and a calming presence to freshman Danjel Purifoy. Purfioy was the biggest the most productive player for the Auburn forwards, finishing the game as Auburn’s second leading scorer. Purifoy had 16 points, six of these came in form of three pointers in the 14-2 run that secured the victory. The most impressive stat coming from Purifoy was that he only played 35 minutes. The 6-foot-7 forward, who plays more like a slashing shooting guard, played the four position. Purifoy was tasked with guarding a crashing William Lee in the paint, he was able to hold Lee to 13 points.
Purifoy’s less then perfect three-point shooting percentage (4-9) is not the worse stat to look at considering his four three’s won the game, essentially. He struggled shooting early, but finished the game a subpar 4-12. Purifoy’s versatility seems to be one of the best things to look forward too as the Tigers season moves on.
Final Verdict:
The salt and pepper mixture of freshman and veteran players seemed once again to prevail for Auburn. The three-headed freshman monster of Harper, Heron, and Purifoy once again carried the scoring load. When these three don’t look comfortable they don’t get fazed, they continue to move on to the next play. When uncomfortable, veterans Johnson and Dunans came into the game provided aa voice to get behind, then let the young guns do the work
Auburn will look to move to 7-1 in Madison Square Garden vs Boston College on Dec. 12.
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