Ole Miss was hot from the floor during the first half against No. 4 Auburn, shooting 56.7% and getting a lead as big as 14 as the Rebels tried to pull off the upset. The Tigers fought back, cutting the deficit to six at the half.

It was a much different story in the final 20 minutes as Auburn (16-1) held Ole Miss to just seven field goals on 24 attempts as the Tigers came back for an 80-71 victory. It was the depth of Bruce Pearl's roster that wore the Rebels out in crunch time, as nine players played at least seven minutes, and seven of those were on the floor for 12-plus minutes.

The Auburn coach pointed toward the fresh legs of Jabari Smith Jr., Wendell Green Jr., K.D. Johnson and Walker Kessler that made a massive difference down the stretch.

"Those four guys were tremendous tonight," Pearl said. "We were able to keep those four guys that I talked about fresh enough in the first half where in the second half they were — those four were able to be on the floor for longer periods of time and stayed fresh enough to be able to guard Ole Miss' actions. I think that was the factor."

Green scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, including a couple of killer threes, while Smith continued to show up in clutch moments, drilling a three-pointer as Ole Miss had cut Auburn's lead to four with just under three minutes to play.

After grabbing just two rebounds in the first half, Kessler dominated the boards in the second, pulling in eight boards while making life difficult in the paint with five blocks. He was also efficient from the floor, with his game-high 20 points coming on 9-of-11 shooting and making both free throw attempts.

"All of a sudden, Walker was protecting the rim," Pearl said. Jabari was down in his stance and making life miserable for his guy … We got more engaged defensively, and that clearly made the difference. It's what won the Alabama game for us, and it's what won the game for us here tonight — our second-half defense."