A shorthanded Auburn team struggled to get anything going against Ole Miss and ultimately fell on the road by a score of 72-61.

“I guess that these games are starting to look a little bit alike, right? Certainly the results,” head coach Bruce Pearl said after Auburn’s third-straight loss. “You know, I’d say the defense was good enough to win. Ole Miss is a really good defensive team. Obviously, we struggled turning the ball over.”

The Tigers were without the services of starting point guard Justin Powell who went down with a head injury against Texas A&M.

In his absence, it was Allen Flanigan and Jamal Johnson running point guard for Auburn. Auburn ended up having to rely on walk-on Lior Berman to play some minutes against Ole Miss due to being shorthanded at guard.

In the first half, the Auburn offense struggled to generate much of anything. The Tigers trailed 43-29 and Jaylin Williams had 16 of Auburn’s 29 points.

Williams continued his tear in the second half, finishing with a career-high 24 points.

Johnson was the only other Tiger to score in double-figures, finishing the game with 11 points.

Ole Miss utilized several different defenses throughout the game, with the 1-3-1 zone specifically causing Auburn some issues.

“Ole Miss does a nice job of changing defenses and we struggled to score against the 1-3-1,” Pearl said. “You gotta score in space and they do a nice job of getting their hands up. We had guy who were open, we just couldn’t deliver it on-time and on-target.”

After trailing by as many as 18 in the second half, Auburn cut the Ole Miss lead down to just eight with 4:51, forcing an Ole Miss timeout.

The Rebels responded with a 7-0 run after the timeout, slamming the door shut on an Auburn comeback.

“I thought we had a chance. With about four minutes to go but we had a couple empty possessions, turnovers, and they were able to head back out on us,” Pearl said.

With the schedule ramping up, Pearl praised his team for fighting back, but knows they need to continue to grow.

“So obviously, yeah, I am proud of them for continuing to battle,” Pearl said. “But as long as we can continue to grow and learn. Schedules gonna get tougher now.”

Auburn now falls to 6-5 and is 0-3 in SEC play to start the year. The Tigers’ next game comes at home against Alabama who is 8-3 and 3-0 in SEC play.

STATS:

Jaylin Williams: 24 points, 7-14 FG, 6-10 3FG, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 30 minutes, +2

Jamal Johnson: 11 points, 4-14 FG, 3-9 3FG, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 34 minutes, -3

JT Thor: 9 points, 3-9 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 25 minutes, -16

Dylan Cardwell: 5 points, 2-2 FG, 5 rebounds, 16 minutes, -2

Allen Flanigan: 4 points, 2-8 FG, 0-4 3FG, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 8 turnovers, 34 minutes, -19

Devan Cambridge: 4 points, 2-10 FG, 0-5 3FG, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 32 minutes, -12

Chris Moore: 4 points, 2-2 FG, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 15 minutes, -2

Stretch Akingbola: 0 points, 1 block, 7 minutes, -2

Javon Franklin: 0 points, 0-1 FG, 2 minutes, -4

Lior Berman: 0 points, 0-1 FG, 5 minutes, +3

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