Five-star work ethic

AUBURN | Mustapha Heron is not your ordinary five-star.

First of all, he’s at Auburn as the first five-star basketball player in the history of the program. Secondly, he practices and prepares more like a three-star still trying to prove himself.

“Mustapha Heron is a five-star, not because he's a freak. He's a five-star because he's a disciplined student-athlete,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “He's a guy that's in here all the time at 6:30 in the morning. He eats right. He takes care of his body. He just trains. He's a hard worker and he's a very good athlete and he's got a great future in professional basketball. But not because he was just born with it.”

That attitude and team-first mentality has already made an impression on his teammates including junior TJ Lang.

“If you didn't know Mustapha was a five-star, if you didn't know his accolades, you would never have an idea,” Lang said. “He's probably one of the most humble players I've ever met. He's one of the hardest workers.”

Heron said that work ethic was instilled in him at an early age.

“I think it's something within myself. Definitely comes from my father. Growing up, he was hard on me and he told me you only get good from hard work,” Heron said.

Heron has been asked to cut down on some of those early morning workouts as the season approaches but he still takes extra time to work on his game.

“Defense, rebounding drills, finishing around the rim, a lot of shooting and ball handling, everything. I'm just trying to become a complete player,” Heron said.

Heron’s strength coming out of high school and during his first couple of weeks of preseason practice has been his ability to drive into the lane and score or draw a foul.

“He has just a natural ability of getting to the rim,” Lang said. “He's not a crazy, explosive athlete but when he gets to the rim, he's going to finish. That's probably one of the best attributes he has, his body control, his ability to finish at the rim.”

Heron had 12 points, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor in Wednesday night’s scrimmage. He had 22 points in the Tigers’ first scrimmage of the preseason a couple of weeks ago.

“He's not going to be a player that is going to lead us in scoring every night because he was a five-star. And he doesn't expect to,” Pearl said. “There could be a night he does. But he's in a good place and he knows he's on a team with some other good players and I think our fans won't be disappointed.

“He's not going to try to prove his stars. That's just not who he is.”