In just his third practice back from shoulder surgery, Horace Spencer appears to physically be back to his old self.
The junior forward was dominant at times during Auburn's three-period scrimmage on Thursday, the team's fifth practice in preparation for its trip to Italy next month, while true freshman Davion Mitchell was the primary point guard with the starting unit.
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"The fact that Horace is playing so well so early in his return, he's active, you could sort of tell it's his third season," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "It's just great to have him back and see him flying around out there. He jumps out at me.
"Davion Mitchell's ability to defend and finish and score and pick up on what we do has been really impressive."
Spencer, who took part in his first full-contact practice on Monday since surgery on his left shoulder on Feb. 16, had several putbacks, layups and tip-ins while playing both at center and power forward with the projected starters.
"I felt like being a three-year player here, I already know the framework of the offense and the defense so it's really not that hard for me to get readjusted to it," said Spencer, who averaged 4.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 16.3 minutes while starting 12 of Auburn's first 19 games last season. "I am a lot more comfortable playing the 4 spot but I know how to play the 5 spot so it's like muscle memory."
Auburn is trying to run its offense more through its bigs this season. With Austin Wiley out with a stress fracture, for Spencer to have such a presence on the inside was a good sign for him and the offense as a whole.
"My thought is he wound up putting himself in position to get open and that's what he did," Pearl said.
Mitchell ran the point with a personnel group that featured Bryce Brown, Danjel Purifoy, Spencer and Anfernee McLemore or Chuma Okeke. The true freshman also played point in one rotation with sophomore Jared Harper playing at shooting guard.
Mitchell said he likes to get to the basket and score but enjoys being the facilitator.
"I really like to pass though, getting my players involved, get my team involved, so they can play the right defense and get in the right spots," he said. "It's good (to work with the first team), especially playing with players that have experience. It's good just to play with them and make the right plays."
The starters dominated Thursday, which was not the case on Monday, but they struggled in a pair of situation setups in which they were trailing by two with the ball with a minute to go. While the scout team did not score from the field in either scenario, a defensive foul with two seconds on the shot clock and a missed free throw led to losses for the first-team.
"You got to play defense without fouling," Pearl said, "good lesson to learn."
Auburn will practice five more times before leaving on Aug. 6 for the 10-day trip to Italy, which will include four games with international clubs. Thursday's scrimmages were played under FIBA rules to get the Tigers used to the international game, which is faster and more physical than the college game.
"I like what I got but it's interesting, trying to put it together in 10 practices (before going to Italy)," Pearl said. "It's interesting because I tried to work on a little bit of zone (defense) today but I just put it in before practice. It takes a little bit more time.
"It'll be a challenge to go over in close games and be able to compete because we're probably only going to be able to have about half of what we would normally have during the season."