Freshman already a dominating defender

AUBURN | Isaac Okoro won the Tipoff at Toomer’s dunk contest. He’s probably the most electric player in Auburn’s talented 2019 class, which will make its unofficial debut in Friday’s exhibition game against Eckerd.

But anytime Okoro’s name comes up, the discussion quickly shifts in a surprising direction — to his defense.

“He’s a freak athlete. He can defend 1 through 5. He’s going to probably be our best defender,” said J’Von McCormick.

That’s high praise from a senior, but it doesn’t stop there. Auburn sixth-year coach Bruce Pearl also heaps praise on Okoro for his defense, which is quite unusual for a coach that often laments over his freshmen’s lack of defensive acuity.

“Isaac has been terrific and will continue to be. He is such a dominating defensive player,” Pearl said. “I’ve only had one player in my career that could guard 1 through 5, and that was a young man named Stanley Gerrard. Stan Gerrard was a Division II national player of the year two times. He’s the head coach at Indianapolis. He was just a great player, also 6-foot-6.

“Where Isaac plays is actually going to be interesting in the sense that I’ve been rotating him exclusively in the backcourt, and part of the reason why I want to leave him there is because he’s our best guard defender.”

In fact, Pearl is very excited about a potential starting backcourt of seniors McCormick and Samir Doughty along with Okoro.

“I think that J’Von and Samir and Isaac could be a great defensive backcourt,” he said. “I may have said that last week, but I want to instill that in them. I think that’s possible. But Isaac can play more than just guard. I can move him around a little bit, and he also has the basketball IQ to be moved around.”

Tipoff for the Eckerd game is scheduled for 30 minutes after the volleyball game against Mississippi State, which begins at 6 p.m. CT. Auburn will host Georgia Southern in the season opener next Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network.