Allen Flanigan didn’t hesitate, and he was succinct with his answer.

With it appearing as though No. 21 Auburn will be without starting small forward Chris Moore when the Tigers host Mississippi State on Saturday night, Flanigan was asked if he was prepared for another heavy workload — especially coming off back-to-back outings against Arkansas and Ole Miss in which he logged 32 and 34 minutes off the bench.

“Yes,” Flanigan said.

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The senior wing is likely to make just his second start of the season, and first since Dec. 2 against Colgate, when Auburn (13-3, 3-1 SEC) hosts Mississippi State (12-4, 1-3) at 7:30 p.m. in Neville Arena. Moore, who has started all 16 games for Auburn this season, injured his right shoulder in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s game at Ole Miss, and he did not practice with the team Thursday, leaving coach Bruce Pearl uncertain about the junior’s status for Saturday’s home tilt.

The likely absence of Moore will put the spotlight on Flanigan, who has been enjoying his best stretch of basketball since suffering a partially torn Achilles prior to the start of his junior season. Over the last three games, Flanigan is averaging 14.7 points and shooting 51.6 percent shooting—including 36.3 percent from 3-point range—while adding 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He has also committed just two turnovers during that three-game stretch, including zero turnovers in a season-high 34 minutes Tuesday against Ole Miss.

“Al’s put the time in, he’s put the work in, he’s been grinding, and over a period of the last several months, and you just haven’t seen as much reward for all that work — but you saw it the last couple games,” Pearl said. “It’s been wonderful to see. Not only has he shot the ball well, but he’s been our leading defensive rebounder. He’s playing all those minutes without turning the ball over, which is important. He’s just doing all the right things, and as a result, he’s playing well.”

It’s the first time since his breakout sophomore season that Flanigan has posted three straight games scoring in double figures. He had a run of eight consecutive games late in that 2020-21 season, when he averaged 15 points on 44.2 percent shooting during that stretch. It helped him earn All-SEC honors as a sophomore, and it’s a reason why he generated serious NBA buzz after that season.

Flanigan opted to return for his junior year, which brought elevated expectations for the Little Rock, Ark., native — expectations that became grounded prior to the start of his junior year, when he sustained a partially torn Achilles that required surgery and sidelined him for more than three months. Flanigan missed the first 11 games last season, but even when he returned, he was a shell of his former self on the court.

Flanigan struggled to return to form after the injury, averaging just 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while averaging more turnovers (2.1 per game) than assists (1.3 per game) and shooting just 39.5 percent from the field and a meager 20.5 percent from beyond the arc. The effort was still there defensively, but Flanigan couldn’t find his rhythm on offense — he had one game all season in which he scored more than 10 points — and he lacked the explosiveness he displayed during his breakthrough sophomore campaign.

Determined to get back to his pre-injury form, Flanigan tested the NBA Draft waters again in the offseason before ultimately returning for his senior year. That decision has paid off, as the 6-foot-6 wing finally appears to be back.

“You’re only going to get out of the game what you put into it,” Flanigan said.

Flanigan struggled during a rough five-game stretch for Auburn in December, when the Tigers went 3-2 with losses to Memphis and USC, but since the calendar has flipped to 2023, Flanigan has looked like he has turned back the clock a couple years.

He had 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting in Auburn’s loss at Georgia a couple weeks ago, and he followed it up with arguably his two best performances since that Achilles injury. He had 18 points—matching his most since the end of his sophomore season—eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in a win against then-No. 13 Arkansas last weekend. He shot 5-of-9 from the floor against the Razorbacks, including 3-of-6 from deep. Then against Ole Miss he dropped in 15 points five rebounds and two assists without committing a turnover in 34 minutes of action, his most minutes since the penultimate game of his sophomore season.

“I didn’t really feel pressure or anything,” he said. “I just went in there and did what I’m supposed to do for this team. That’s one of my jobs on this team it to be aggressive night in and night out and pick us up wherever we need to be picked up, whether that’s rebounding, playing harder defensively, getting guys shots or taking shots.”

Was Flanigan exhausted after that performance? Not particularly. He came into the gym the next day, on Auburn’s scheduled off-day, and got a workout in with his father, assistant coach Wes Flanigan.

“The minutes and stuff build up, but you go to Clark (Pearson, the team trainer) and get treatment to help reduce that, but you’ve still got to get you work in,” Flanigan said.

Now it seems Auburn will need to call on Flanigan again for an increased workload against a Mississippi State team that enters Neville Arena allowing just 56.8 points per game behind the nation’s No. 8 adjusted defensive efficiency (89.7 points per 100 possessions), per KenPom.

“We talk about trying to do the things that God might bless, whether you get the blessing or not, and really, truly since the first of the year, Al’s just been trying to do the right things,” Pearl said last week. “He’s just been trying to do the little things, trying to keep his attitude right. Al’s coming off the bench, and certainly is good enough to start.”

On Saturday night, Flanigan will likely get that call to start. The senior wing, as he concisely indicated Friday, will be ready.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.