Ole Miss wins, 82-67.
Auburn now is 11-3 overall, 0-1 in the league.
AUBURN BY THE NUMBERS
2FG: 8-of-28 (29%)
3FG: 14-of-39 (36%)
FT: 9-of-17 (53%)
Auburn lost the rebounding battle, 45-37.
Auburn is 3-2 this season when being out-rebounded.
OLE MISS BY THE NUMBERS
2FG: 17-of-34 (50%)
3FG: 7-of-19 (37%)
FT: 27-of-37 (73%)
MY AUBURN PLAYER OF THE GAME
G Bryce Brown: 23 points (8-of-22 shooting), 1 assist, 0 rebounds
FROM THE OLE MISS SIDE
"It's fun to see, this early in our time at Ole Miss, to play that well and to feel our crowd like that. It was really nice to see." — Rebels coach Kermit Davis
FROM THE AUBURN SIDE
• The first half was Bruce Pearl's sum of all fears. His top guards, Jared Harper and Bryce Brown, allowed themselves to get into a mano a mano situation with Ole Miss' excellent guards. That is the antithesis of what Pearl was hoping to see inside The Pavilion Wednesday night. I tend to place that at Harper's feet since he's the point guard, but Pearl generally doesn't play the blame game when it comes to tempo. Regardless, Auburn was not running its stuff patiently and thoughtfully. This team is too experienced to fall into that trap for an entire half of basketball.
• Auburn deserves credit for opening the second half on a 7-0 run. The team worked its offense to precision. Yet when it was time to seize control of the game — Auburn cut it to 63-60 with seven minutes to go — the visitors let go. They couldn't get themselves back together, couldn't regain that singularity of purpose. The Tigers allowed Ole Miss to hit five of their next seven shots. The game quickly frittered away.
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• Bryce Brown said afterward that a lack of physicality was the reason Auburn lost. This has been a problem for a few years now, really since Cinmeon Bowers left, because this team generally shows ample skill and plays a little short on brawn — with the notable exception of Malik Dunbar. Still, Brown said afterward that Auburn will have things in order before the game against Georgia this weekend. "I'm more than confident that we'll get that fixed," Brown said. "It's a problem going to get fixed in our locker room. This is an eye-opener for us."
• Ole Miss deserves credit for the way it played. They were rough and physical and resistant. Their big men didn't back down from Austin Wiley, who really struggled to create much of anything, and their guards were excellent as expected. Auburn played poorly in several different ways; the Rebels didn't settle for difficult shots and instead worked diligently to get higher-percentage shots closer to the basket. That was their goal. They accomplished it.
• Harper was not good. We already talked about the lack of tempo control, which is his responsibility to some degree, but he also finished with nine points on 3-of-14 shooting. He took a bunch of quick-fire threes. That's an important part of his game, yes, but it's not the only part. Harper wasn't very effective; he didn't affect the game much.
• So what happened to Auburn? Quick shots were a big problem. A lack of discipline on the scoring end also was a theme. The motion that makes the Tigers so potent on their best nights was imperceptible. Players standing around. Ball reversals were rare. It was as if the team simply was trying to decide who'd take the next contested three-point shot. Pearl often says that his team is at its best when several players are contributing on the scoring end. Bryce Brown ended up having an semi-effective night — 23 points on 8-of-24 shooting — but nobody else stood out.
• Auburn, at least on paper, had an advantage inside. Austin Wiley has been an extremely effective post scorer, so the idea going into the game was that Wiley could be a major part of the plan. Wiley, however, finished with six points and missed all five of his shots. The issue there is that Ole Miss' post defenders refused to concede post position — meaning Wiley, and power forward Chuma Okeke as well, were forced to take extra steps beyond the block just to get the ball. That relatively short distance actually changes how Wiley and Okeke approach their scoring task. It's too far for a hook or a quick move. It necessitates a more complicated face-up move, which is not Wiley's game. Okeke has some face-up moves, but he never looked comfortable Wednesday. The path to regaining post position involves commandeering the block — through better positioning or straight-up intimidation. And now we're right back to the real issue: A lack of physicality.
• Pearl said afterward that he believed his team's 11-day layoff between games played a central role in his team's lack of physicality.
•The Tigers hoisted 39 shots from beyond the arc, which is a season high. A winning formula on the road is to attack from both outside and inside. With Wiley and Okeke stalled, the Tigers relied too heavily its long-range shooting — and used it unnaturally insofar as many of those looks were defended either well or reasonably well. Those missed shots aren't bad luck; they're a function of impatience and inadequacies involving other areas of the operation.
• Auburn resumes play Saturday at home against Georgia. That game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip and will be televised by ESPN2.
