AUBURN | Sharife Cooper was the best player on the court, again.

Auburn’s freshman sensation tied his career-high with 28 points to lead the Tigers to an 88-82 win over No. 12 Missouri, their first win over a ranked opponent this season.

Auburn improves to 10-7 overall and 4-5 in the SEC.

“Well, that’s the best win of the year so far. Against a really, really good team in Missouri. A veteran team and a team that we couldn't beat last year,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.

The only thing that could slow down Cooper was foul trouble. Missouri went on a 21-9 run while Cooper missed the final five minutes of the first half and the first three minutes of the second with three fouls, turning an 8-point deficit into a 4-point lead.

“We're a lot better with Sharife Cooper on the floor. When he got in foul trouble, we really bogged down,” Pearl said.

But Copper was able to play 16 minutes in the second half, scoring 21 of his 28 including 13 of 14 free throws. He scored and 15 of his points in the final 9:17 of the game. His 18 made free throws set a school record and are more than any player in the country this season.

“We talk about him being an alpha dog and what that’s all about. He’s the biggest little man out there. Period,” Pearl said. “Everybody knows it. But when it comes to the end of the game, or towards the end of the game, he expects to win. He expects to make the plays and if he doesn't, he takes full responsibility.”

Cooper added eight rebounds and seven assists. He was +20 for the game.

“That’s my favorite thing to do, to close a game,” Cooper said. “Just making the right plays, making winning plays that affect the game tremendously just by doing something little.”

Auburn out-rebounded Missouri 46-29 and tied a season-high with 14 blocked shots. Babatunde Akingbola had a career-high five blocks in just eight minutes along with three points, four rebounds and one steal.

“Stretch had five blocks in a very short period of time. That’s just huge.” Pearl said. “We have some weaknesses, we have some warts, but we have some length.”

JT Thor had 12 points, five rebounds and four blocks while Allen Flanigan and Chris Moore had 11 points apiece. Moore shot 4 of 4 from the floor including three 3-pointers to score his career-high as AU outscored Mizzou 34-22 off the bench.

Auburn made a season-high 36 free throws, shooting 81.8 percent from the line, which is the third-best percentage of the season.

Auburn led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but Missouri was able to cut it to 39-35 at the break after Cooper picked up his third foul.

Auburn returns to action Saturday at No. 2 Baylor. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN.