Sharife Cooper's time at Auburn has come to an end.
The freshman point guard announced on Friday that he is entering the 2021 NBA Draft and will not return to Auburn.
Cooper played in 12 games for the Tigers and averaged 20.2 points and 8.1 assists in 33 minutes per game. At the end of the season, he was named to the SEC's All-Freshman team by the conference's coaches.
“We’re very excited for Sharife,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “While he may have signed his National Letter of Intent in November of 2019 and only played in 12 games, he was an Auburn Tiger way before that. Players that came before him like Isaac Okoro, Devan Cambridge and Babatunde Akingbola knew full well that Sharife wanted to follow in the footsteps of some of our great point guards."
The freshman point guard missed the first 11 games of the season due to his initial eligibility being under review by the NCAA and did not play in his first game until SEC play. The point guard's season ended early after he suffered an ankle injury during practice and missed the team's final four games.
“His character and his hard work clearly shined through his lone season with us," Pearl said. "After missing 72 days of practice, he started his first game against Alabama and put up 26 points and nine assists to help us take the would-be SEC champions down to the wire. He is a once in a generation point guard who has an uncanny ability to score and help others score. I’m proud of him, and he’ll always be an Auburn Tiger.”
If Cooper is selected in the first round, where most mock drafts currently project him, he will be the third consecutive Auburn player to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft. Chuma Okeke was selected 16th overall in 2019 by the Orlando Magic, and Isaac Okoro was selected fifth overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020.
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Jake Weese, senior in journalism with a minor in history, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
