Danjel Purifoy, young basketball Tigers look to opener

Danjel Purifoy, young basketball Tigers look to openerDanjel Purifoy, young basketball Tigers look to opener

Nov. 10, 2016

By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. - The time has come for Danjel Purifoy, the basketball player who committed to Auburn 2½ years ago, to finally play his first game.

Auburn's season-opener against North Florida at 8:30 p.m. Friday in Auburn Arena will turn his anticipation into a college player.

"It was 26 or 27 months ago he committed to us and now he's finally getting on the floor for his first regular-season game. I'm just blown away by that," said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl on Thursday.

Purifoy, who practiced with Auburn but sat out last season, will be one of three freshmen in Auburn's starting lineup. He'll be joined by Jared Harper and Mustapha Heron. Only T.J. Dunans and Horace Spencer are returning to starting roles.

Auburn fans got a taste of the future in last week's 96-68 exhibition win over Montevallo when four of the freshmen combined for 57 points.

The men's game is part of a Friday basketball doubleheader in the arena. The women's team will tip off its season against Troy at 5:30 p.m.

Pearl, now in his 35th year in college coaching, said he's never started three freshmen in an opener.

"This is the youngest team I've ever had," he said. And, "It will be interesting to see, as we continue to try to build some chemistry." Winning, he added, would help. "It will help because it makes things easier, it makes things happier. I know how to win and keep them focused. Losing is difficult because of the doubt that seeps in. We're going to find out whether or not we're good enough to beat that first opponent that we play."

It's not the easiest of openers. North Florida was 22-12 last season and has won 45 games and two Atlantic Sun Conference titles the last two years. North Florida went to the NCAA Tournament the year before last and the NIT last year. Auburn, 11-20 last season, can't make that claim.

But this is a new Auburn team, with so many freshmen, including Purifoy, who has patiently waited his turn.

"I really learned how tough I was," Purifoy said. "A lot of people thought I was going to give up, but I couldn't let myself give up. It was really just about not just listening to what other people say and just doing what I've got to do and then come back this year and show people what I can do.

"Last year, when I found out I couldn't play, I just mainly focused on my grades and getting good grades. I felt like I really picked that up since I went to college. Basketball, it just came to me."

"I'm sure he's really excited and I'm sure he's hungry," Pearl said. "I don't think he's nervous. He definitely doesn't want to let me down, doesn't want to let his family down. That's really big to Danjel."

Pearl said he feels like something of a rookie, too.

"You would think after coaching for 35 years that I would be a little less anxious than I was years ago, but I'm still just as anxious as we get ready to get started and tip things off and see where we're at," he said.

Pearl said it'd be a season of adjustments, from the newcomers, including graduate transfers LaRon Smith and Ronnie Johnson, to his veterans.

"Roles change and they evolve," Pearl said. "Just take a look at our starting lineup for Friday. Bryce Brown didn't start. He started a lot of games last year. He set a record for 3s as a freshman at Auburn. TJ Lang has started a lot of basketball, late in his freshman year, and didn't he start almost every game last year? That's a little different. He was hurt, but he's got a pretty good player right now in front of him in Mustapha Heron. How does he handle that? He can handle it really, really well and be a huge part of this team's success, whether it be coming off the bench or if the opportunity does present itself to start.

"My focus on them is to focus on that effort and energy. Nothing we do works well when you play 10 guys unless we don't come out flying. I just didn't think we came out flying as much as anything. We're still dealing withÃÆ'¢Ãƒ¢'¬¦ if that was the second time we played together, and it was; and it's the first time we played together and the coach was disappointed the way we played, it took me a little while after the game to kind of work some things."

Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine