Jared Harper hit the 3-pointers in the first half and just enough free throws in the second to lead Auburn to a big road win.
Harper scored a game-high and career-high 21 points as the Tigers defeated UAB 74-70 at Bartow Arena Saturday night. Auburn improves to 6-1 while UAB falls to 4-4.
“I thought we got great point guard play,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We had 19 points off turnovers and I thought that was a key, and the fact that Jared Harper and Ronnie Johnson played so well.
“From the point guards we got 29 points, three assists, one turnover and three steals. That’s a good line.”
Harper made 5-of-6 3-pointers in the first half and hit five of his last six free throw in the final 2:24 of the second half. The true freshman shot 5-of-10 from the floor including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and added five rebounds and three assists.
Johnson had eight points and two steals.
UAB led for most of the game until a 14-2 run midway through the second half put Auburn up 55-47. The Tigers were able to stretch that lead to 11 with 6:31 left but went 0-of-5 from the floor the remainder of the game.
Auburn made eight of its final 11 free throws to hold on for a big road win.
Danjel Purifoy added 16 points, making all four of his 3-pointers in the second half, and added five rebounds. Mustapha Heron had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Auburn had seven blocked shots including three by LaRon Smith and two by Horace Spencer, who also had seven rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.
“We got a lot of contributions from everybody on the team,” Harper said. “We have some improvements we have to work on but we played a good team game.”
UAB out-rebounded Auburn 40-31 and outscored Auburn 36-22 in the paint. But the Tigers scored 19 points off of 15 turnovers and UAB shot just 4-of-20 (20 percent) from 3-point range.
William Lee led the Blazers with 13 points and had six rebounds. Chris Cokley had eight points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 8:24 left in the second half.
The two teams combined for 48 fouls.
“How about this. It’s Saturday in December, the SEC Championship is being played in Atlanta and we’ve got one of the best environments for college basketball in the country in Birmingham, Alabama tonight. That tells you a lot about Auburn and a lot about UAB and their great history,” Pearl said.
“The fact that there were 2-3,000 Auburn fans in this building tonight. Unbelievable. We don't win here tonight without those 3,000. I’m so glad that our Auburn fans are walking around Birmingham with their chests out.”
Auburn will take nine days off for finals and return to action Dec. 12 against Boston College at Madison Square Garden in New York.
