Before playing a basketball game 110 miles away in his home city that afternoon, Auburn walk-on guard Jalen Harper woke up at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning to put on his graduation cap and gown.

The College of Liberal Arts graduation ceremony began at 8 a.m. in Neville Arena. Harper was set to walk across the Auburn stage before his brother Jared, the second-leading scorer on Auburn’s 2019 Final Four team. Jared Harper left to play professional basketball after three years. At some point, he’ll finish his own Auburn degree.

“So that’s the one thing I have over him is now that I’ve graduated,” Harper said. “He does plan on coming back. But I’m gonna let him hear it until he finishes.”

This was Jalen Harper’s day. He finished the two-hour ceremony, walked across the stage and went straight to the car a bit after 10 a.m. with his parents.

They had to be quick. Harper and his Auburn basketball team had a game in Atlanta against Indiana in under three hours just after 1 p.m. central time. It takes about two hours to get to the arena as it is.

In the car, Harper called his brother who currently plays for Valencia in the Spanish Liga ACB.

With only 15 minutes to spare before Auburn took the floor, Harper’s parents dropped him off at the back door of State Farm Arena like they would for a game back in high school. Harper walked in wearing a polka-dot sweater, carrying a drink and lunch from Atlanta staple restaurant American Deli and had his navy blue Auburn graduation stole wrapped around his neck.

And his teammates mobbed him in celebration as he arrived in the tunnel.

Harper quickly changed into his uniform. But it was a bit different on this day. His SEC patch had already been altered to show him as an SEC graduate.

So did Dylan Cardwell’s jersey — except he hadn’t walked across the stage yet.

Harper played three minutes at the end of the game with the result of the 104-76 blowout over Indiana long in hand. He took three shots in the arena of the Mableton, Georgia native’s hometown NBA team, but missed them all.

“That was probably one of the best days of my life,” Harper said. “Just graduating and walking across the stage — just pulling up in Atlanta and passing that stadium growing up as a kid. That was the best day ever.”

But with Harper on the floor, Cardwell was sweating making it to his own graduation on time.

Cardwell is a student in Auburn’s College of Business. That graduation ceremony was set for 6 p.m. back in Neville Arena.

“I joked about leaving the game early, if it was a blowout,” Cardwell said. “Thankfully, it wasn’t a close game. I didn’t think it would be a good look if I left the game early, so I stayed all the way through. My biggest concern was how long BP’s postgame speech was going to be. Thankfully, he was very mindful of my time.”

It didn’t matter if Cardwell had a career performance against Indiana, he wasn’t going to be available for a press conference. There wouldn’t be enough time.

“People started leaving through where regular fans were leaving through, so I had to get a bunch of pictures,” Cardwell said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m in a rush, y’all. I really can’t stop and stay.’”

And just as Harper was dropped off by his parents, Cardwell’s mom and two brothers picked him up from State Farm Arena.

They made it back. Barely.

“No traffic, thank God,” Cardwell said. “We got to graduation with, like, 10 minutes before the ceremony started. I sat in the back, and I was the last person in the business school to graduate.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]