For the first time since 2011, the Auburn basketball team has started the season 2-0.
Bruce Pearl and the Tigers picked up their second win after defeating another mid-major opponent in Georgia State.
“It’s nice to be 2-0. I don’t think I’ve been 2-0 at Auburn yet,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “Individually it was kind of fun to watch Jared Harper take over and yet Ronnie Johnson had five assists and one turnover so we got pretty good point guard play."
After a sloppy first half, the shots started falling for Auburn, and true freshman point guard Jared Harper proved that he truly is "worth the price of admission."
The Tigers shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half, with Harper and freshman Danjel Purifoy leading the way scoring 19 a piece.
After boosting Auburn to a five point lead at the half with two late threes, Harper finished strong and shot 5-10 from the field and made 4-6 from behind the arc. The 5-foot-10 point guard also added four rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Despite getting in early foul trouble, Purifoy protected the Auburn lead throughout the second half scoring 17 of his 19 points in the final 20 minutes.
“[The first half] was real frustrating, but I didn't let it get to me because my team did a real good job of not letting them get to the basket as much," Purifoy said. "We had a couple of turnovers, but we stuck through it and got the win."
Pearl believes that getting in foul trouble in the first half was a good lesson for the young forward.
“Danjel [Purifoy] learned a lesson about foul trouble tonight. People are going to go at him and try to get him in foul trouble because we’re not nearly as good a team offensively without him.”
Purifoy explained that he came out of the half motivated to play for his teammate, LaRon Smith, who began his career at Georgia State.
“The whole game I had planned on playing for one of my teammates, LaRon Smith, because they treated him bad at Georgia State," Purifoy said. "He didn't play much. I told him we were going to come out and get this win for him. In the second half, that's what I came out with.”
The Tigers had two other players in double-figures with Horace Spencer scoring 12 points and Mustapha Heron adding 10. Heron added a team-high eight rebounds.
Auburn returns to action in Auburn Arena on Thursday against Eastern Kentucky. This will be the second game of the Cancun Challenge, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. CST. The game can be seen on the SEC Network.
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