Auburn completed one of the most memorable comebacks of the Bruce Pearl era Tuesday night, clawing back from 19 down to defeat Ole Miss in double overtime, 83-82.
After the Rebels took their largest lead of the night — and ESPN gave them a 96.9% win probability — the No. 17 Tigers outscored them down the stretch, 46-27.
According to ESPN Stats and Info, SEC teams entered the night 0-102 when down 17-plus at the half on the road over the last decade.
The win marked the third-largest comeback in program history, with leading-scorer Anfernee McLemore (19 points), Isaac Okoro, Danjel Purifoy and J'Von McCormick all hitting clutch shots to either tie or take the lead late in regulation or in the overtime periods.
But Pearl, along with all Auburn fans and their collective blood pressures, would have preferred his team not be put in that all-too-familiar and unfavorable situation in the first place.
Auburn again failed to produce much on the offensive end at the start of the night, amplified by the hostile road environment.
Pearl's team went nearly eight minutes without a bucket in the first half, missed 21 of its first 25 shots and began the game with a 1-to-10 assist-to-turnover ratio. It was Auburn's worst offensive start since, well, the Florida loss two weeks ago. And that game was Auburn's worst offensive start since ... the Alabama loss earlier that week.
While the sluggish start was a group showing — what with the .606 points per possession and the 21.4% shooting percentage from the field in the first half — Pearl said it all starts with the point guard position.
Starter J'Von McCormick had four turnovers to no assists in the first half — along with a 9-to-2 ratio for the game — and 2-guard Samir Doughty went scoreless with two turnovers over the first 20 minutes. Doughty often handles the point when McCormick goes to the bench.
"Too many turnovers from our point guards," Pearl told Auburn radio. "I've got to get better point-guard play. We just did not get good point-guard play."
When fouls start piling up, the opposition is digging into its bench and the conditioning sets in, Auburn starts to level the playing field, Pearl said. That was apparent with the Tigers' massive comeback late.
"When everybody's fresh, when everybody's furious at the start of games, start of halves, we struggle," Pearl said. "I don't know."
Pearl is still searching for a remedy early in games, so, while not specifying which positions he's thinking of retooling, Pearl told Andy Burcham of Auburn radio that he's considering a change to his usual starters.
"I may have to adjust the starting lineup a little bit," Pearl said. "Obviously that group has not played well together. I'll give that some thought. That's a possibility for Saturday."
Auburn has tweaked its starting lineup of McCormick, Doughty, Okoro, Purifoy and Austin Wiley just once this season against Florida, when McLemore started in Purifoy's place at power forward for an undisclosed reason.
Pearl did say, however, that he needs to play more of his frontcourt bench to reduce the load on his guards, as McCormick, Doughty and Okoro played 45, 45 and 44 minutes against Ole Miss, respectively. Granted, it was a double overtime game, but Pearl still said he'll work with his coaching staff this week to make sure the same doesn't occur Saturday against Kentucky.
Auburn hosts the Wildcats at 5 p.m. CST in Auburn Arena, with ESPN College GameDay set to make its first-ever appearance on the Plains at 10 a.m.
"I wish The Jungle could rebound. I wish The Jungle could handle the ball a little bit better for us than we did tonight," Pearl said of getting that homecourt advantage Saturday. "But they can't. We've got to be the ones to make plays."
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