Sharife Cooper has excelled since returning to Auburn. Where he’s struggled, though, is shooting the ball.

Cooper is shooting 20-of-54 (37%) from the floor and just 1-of-16 (6.3%) from beyond-the-arc.

For Bruce Pearl, that doesn’t matter. He wants Cooper to keep letting them fly.

“I’m gonna put the ball in his hands and he’s gonna run the show. And he’s gonna get us shots, he’s gonna score himself,” Pearl said after the Kentucky win. “The stat sheet may say that he’s not shooting well from three, I’m just telling you, you better guard him there. He can shoot the three-ball.”

Pearl reemphasized that on Tuesday before Auburn’s trip to Arkansas.

“Yeah, oh yeah. He'll shoot it. He can shoot it,” Pearl said. “He can shoot it. I'll put the ball in his hands and trust him. That's what I do with my players. I trust them, and if he's open he better shoot it.”

While Cooper hasn’t been shooting particularly well, that hasn’t stopped him from scoring.

The freshman is averaging 21.7 points per game along with 9.7 assists and four rebounds per game in his three games back.

He’s also helped elevate the shooting and play of those around him.

Noticeably, Devan Cambridge and JT Thor.

Cambridge has averaged 12.3 points while shooting 62.5% from the floor and connected on 5-of-12 3-pointers (41.7%).

Thor has scored 10.6 points per game with Cooper back along with creating some highlight reel alley-oops.

“We're better. I mean, we're obviously better with our quarterback,” Pearl said of Cooper. “He makes everybody better. He is a pass-first, unselfish, high IQ point guard and one of the best point guards in the league.”

While Auburn didn’t have Cooper in the first matchup this season, Pearl knows the Hogs will be prepared for what he brings to the table.

“You know, I really don't know what the result would be,” Pearl said on if the first game would’ve gone differently with Cooper. “We would be -- there are some things we obviously would have done better with him, for sure. Nothing that's going to help us that much in Fayetteville, I can tell you. You know, they've got a game plan for how they're going to guard him, and we've got to be able to get back in transition. They're so good in transition. I just really like their team.”

Cooper and the Tigers (8-6, 2-4 SEC) take on Arkansas (10-4, 2-4 SEC) at 8 p.m. CST with the game on SEC Network.

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