After Anfernee McLemore's season-ending injury vs. South Carolina, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was forced to turn to his two bigs on the bench: freshman Chuma Okeke and Horace Spencer.
Pearl gave Spencer the option to choose if he would be in the starting lineup against Alabama. Spencer opted in and heard his name called with the first five on the floor, along with Malik Dunbar, who took the place of Mustapha Heron (flu).
Both Spencer and Dunbar drew two early fouls, forcing increased playing time for Okeke and Davion Mitchell.
For Pearl, this wasn't necessary a negative. The Tigers' head man suspected this might be the case with his limited roster, asking prior to the Alabama game "What's wrong with a little more Chuma?"
The Crimson Tide found a lot wrong with a little more Chuma.
Okeke played a season-high 34 minutes in Auburn's 90-71 win over Alabama, posting a career-high 16 points and 10 boards in his second double-double of the year. The first-year Tiger dropped 13 in the second half after a slow start, including a 10-point tirade in the span of five minutes.
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During the run, Okeke muscled through the Alabama front for two and-ones.
“I just think it is playing with confidence,” Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said about Okeke. “It is also being ready to play no matter who is in uniform.”
At the start of the season, with bigs Austin Wiley, McLemore and Spencer all in the mix, not to mention starting power forward Desean Murray, Auburn wasn't expecting to count on breakout performances from Okeke just yet. The Atlanta, Georgia product was in a good spot: sitting behind an experienced frontcourt while polishing his game.
With Wiley out, Okeke was tasked with playing just over 21 minutes per game, a moderate pace for a four-star freshman at an emerging Power 5 program. The flashy stats weren't there -- Okeke has scored just 2 points five times this season -- but all of that doesn't matter to him.
According to Pearl, it's Okeke's coachability that prepared the freshman for a night like Wednesday.
"It's just special," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "It's special beyond compare. This team is trying to make history. We have a long way to go, but I can't deny that what we are seeing is rare. This combination of grit, determination, resiliency, family."
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“Jared Harper said Chuma was the most underrated high school player last year," Pearl said. "I said that many times. He was overlooked. The biggest compliment I could pay Chuma is this: he’s good enough and talented enough to start on most teams. You wouldn’t even guess it or know it, but he’s here to help and get better. So many freshmen come in and they want balloons, streamers and shots, but with him, no. He’s ready to step up, though.”
Like Auburn's matchup with Kentucky, which boasted six McDonald's All-Americans to Auburn's zero, the Tigers were outmatched on paper against the Crimson Tide. Highlighting Alabama's talent was freshman guard Collin Sexton.
Sexton is an old teammate of Harper's at Pebblebrook High School in Mableton, Georgia. On the biggest stage, the 5-foot-10 Harper outshined Sexton, who is projected as a lottery pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. For Harper and Auburn, every outing where the Tigers are counted out is another chip added to their shoulders.
“I just think it’s a chip," Harper said of the team's mindset. "I think Chuma got gypped for McDonald’s All-American. We’ve all faced times when we were underrated, and we just use that chip of being underrated to showcase that we are good players.”
Okeke might be getting those streamers and balloons soon, as No. 12 Auburn (24-4, 12-3 SEC) can clinch the conference regular season crown with a win over Florida (17-11, 8-7 SEC) this Saturday.
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