« Men’s Basketball 2019-20

Anfernee McLemore

School
Auburn University
Position
Forward
Major
Finance

Classroom

Anfernee McLemore completed his bachelor’s degree in finance in just three years at Auburn while also being a key player on the men’s basketball team. He finished his undergraduate studies with a 3.04 grade point average and is expected to receive his master’s degree in finance following his senior season. For his efforts in the classroom, McLemore has landed on the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll and has also been selected to serve on the SEC Men’s Basketball Leadership Council for the past three seasons.

Character

McLemore is the living embodiment of a role model in college athletics. His continual leadership in serving his teammates and people to help better themselves, rather than focus on himself, is truly unprecedented in college basketball. McLemore’s passion for helping others was on full display on when he helped his teammates off the floor after a crushing loss in the 2019 Final Four, as well as always offering a hand to help his opponent off the floor after a hard foul. McLemore suffered what could have been a career-ending injury in his sophomore season after severely dislocating his ankle coming down for a rebound. He rehabbed vigorously and came back stronger, leading his team to a program-record 30 wins, a conference tournament title, and the program’s first ever appearance in the 2019 Final Four during his junior campaign. McLemore always answers the call to serve on his own accord and has a heart for youth and the local community. He carries a heart and cares for people regardless of if he knows them or not.

Community

McLemore made a sizable impact the moment he stepped foot on campus - and still does to this day. He has volunteered for a plethora of projects that include anything from neighborhood cleanup to building a house in conjunction with Homes for Heroes for a wounded veteran in Auburn. McLemore has logged countless hours stuffing backpacks full of food for the Jason Dufner Foundation before heading to the court for practice. He spent time at Camp Good Grief, a local grief camp for kids who had recently lost family members to cancer. McLemore was key in heading up tornado recovery efforts in Lee County when he helped members from Beauregard try to return to normal life following devastating tornados in 2018. He has offered his time to young kids as he spent time with the Drake Middle School Breakfast Club, where he came to speak and inspire those to read and chase their dreams. McLemore has also spent time at other charitable organizations including Our House, Boys and Girls Club, and Children’s Harbor throughout the past two years. He spent time with those who were less fortunate and served as a mentor to the kids involved in those specific organizations.

Competition

On the hardwood, McLemore has been a key figure in one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball. Before he arrived, the Tigers were 42-56, including 11-20 before his freshman season. Since then, Auburn has produced three straight winning seasons, highlighted by a 74-32 record and two of the top three winningest campaigns in program history. In the past three seasons, Auburn has won the Southeastern Conference, SEC Tournament, made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the program’s first Final Four in 2019. One of the top shot blockers in Auburn history, McLemore has 153 swats, good for fourth all-time heading into his senior season. McLemore has made 56 starts, including 82 percent of the last two seasons’ games, and has averaged over 6.5 points per game to go along with 4.5 rebounds per tilt. He was chosen on the SEC All-Defensive Team his junior season despite missing the final seven games of the season due to an injury. In his sophomore campaign, McLemore led the SEC and finished 12th with 2.7 blocks per game and had the most rejections in the country by any player to play in less than 30 games with 73.