Auburn basketball won’t have it’s star backcourt fully healthy for the first time tonight, as Justin Powell won’t be joining Sharife Cooper in the lineup.
Unfortunately, patience will have to continue to be shown by Auburn basketball fans chomping at the bit to see their recently returned NBA prospect Sharife Cooper–who made a glorious return against Alabama on national television this past Saturday–and Justin Powell, who has been holding the Tigers up in Cooper’s absence.
The non-conference portion of the 2020 season would have been an essential learning experience for Bruce Pearl’s squad in this postseason-less campaign, but instead, the NCAA decided to hold up Cooper’s eligibility until SEC play had already begun.
With the NBA potentially calling for Cooper and Allen Flanigan, the chance to see this iteration of the team gel would have been nice as the Plains battles the same COVID-19 battles the world continues to struggle with ten months into the pandemic.
Instead, what was a nightmare year for Auburn ended with both the basketball and football programs in disarray.
At least 2021 has brought clarity in the form of Cooper’s return, but the most exciting aspect about his return (besides seeing him light up the Tide) was seeing how he and Powell would work on offense together.
After all, the duo has the potential to do things together that no other offense in the country is capable of…particularly because they already have apart:
Justin Powell & Sharife Cooper are 2 of only 8 DI MBB players to score 26 pts & record 9 asts in a game this season. They are the only freshmen in CBB to put up that stat line this season. AU is the only team in CBB to have 2 different players put up that stat line this season.
— Scott Scroggins (@ScrogginsNoggin) January 10, 2021
Well, tonight won’t be the night:
Auburn will be without Justin Powell tonight against Georgia, source told @Stadium.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 13, 2021
Tonight will be the Cooper show once more but expect Powell to be cleared sooner than later. The team hosts Kentucky this coming Saturday on ESPN. That could be the date Auburn basketball fans could see the potentially dynamic duo debut.