AUBURN | It finally happened for Danjel Purifoy.

After sitting out 22 months, being restricted to eight or less minutes in his first four games back, being relegated to the bench for the first three SEC games until an injury to Austin Wiley finally got him back in the playing rotation, Purifoy finally had his breakout game.

The Auburn junior came off the bench Wednesday night to score eight points in 11 minutes in a 92-58 win over Missouri. It’s the most points he’s scored since totaling 15 against Missouri in the 2017 SEC Tournament.

Not surprisingly, Purifoy said he’s still shaking some rust off.

"A lot of rust,” he said. “I feel like I'm almost back to myself. I'm getting there.

“I'm just happy to be back and just enjoying the wins with my team, just building these bonds that we're building,” he added. “We've just got to keep winning.”

Purifoy also had one rebound, two assists and two steals. He didn’t have a turnover and shot 3 of 5 from the floor including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.

“Well, it was great to see him out there. It was great,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We called an opportunity for him to get a shot. He created his own shot one time.

“He did a nice job. It was great to have him back. We needed him.”

Purifoy attributes the inconsistencies since his return, at least part of them, to needing to lose some weight and get in game shape. But he’s made progress in those areas, especially the last couple of weeks.

“Probably working out three times a day. It was tiring, but I knew I had to do what I had to do to get back in shape and game speed and stuff like that,” Purifoy said. “I was just trying to do whatever I needed to do to get back out there.”

Wiley, Auburn’s starting center, could return for Saturday’s game against Alabama. When asked if he’d showed enough to stay in the playing rotation when Wiley returns, Purifoy answered with an emphatic “yes.”

Pearl was asked if he agreed with Purifoy’s assessment.

“Well, we’ll see what happens when Austin comes back,” he said.

Tip-off at Auburn Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN2.