Every time Auburn would get close, Ole Miss would pull away. And the Rebels used a 9-0 run late in the second half to seal an 82-67 win over the 11th-ranked Tigers Wednesday night at the Pavilion.
Auburn, which hadn’t played in 11 days, closed within three points with 7:04 remaining on a 3-pointer by Bryce Brown, but Ole Miss responded with nine-straight points while the Tigers went an ice cold 0-for-5 from 3-point range over the next 3:27.
“They played great, give them credit. We did not play well,” coach Bruce Pearl told the Auburn Network. “The layoff obviously hurt us and I didn’t do a good job of getting our team as prepared. We had a long time to get prepared for Ole Miss so we knew what to do. Obviously, we didn’t execute it.”
Auburn falls to 11-3 overall and 0-1 in the SEC while Ole Miss improves to 12-2 and 2-0.
The Rebels led the entire 40 minutes including 42-29 at halftime. Auburn closed within three points twice and two points another time in the second half, but could never get over the hump.
Brown led Auburn with 23 points, making 7-of-19 3-point field goals. Malik Dunbar was the only other Tiger in double-figures, coming off the bench to score 11.
Jared Harper had nine points and five assists but was just 3-of-14 from 3-point range. Austin Wiley had six points on 0-of-5 shooting, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
“They came down on Austin and double-teamed him and that bothered him a little bit,” Pearl said. We’ve got some things for him to be able to pass out of those double-teams. We’ve got to get him deeper touches and do a better job of getting the ball inside to him and he’s got to do a better job in finishing.”
Ole Miss out-rebounded Auburn 45-37 including 25-14 in the first half and held a 30-12 advantage on points in the paint.
Terence Davis, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, led Ole Miss with 27 points and 12 rebounds.
The Tigers host Georgia Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
“We got hit in the mouth and now we have an opportunity to respond to it,” Pearl said.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Malik Dunbar was a spark off the bench, scoring all 11 of his points in the second half. He was 4-for-4 from the floor, making his only 3-point attempt, and added four rebounds, three steals and one block in just 13 minutes.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Dunbar made a free throw and then missed the second, which was rebounded by Horace Spencer, who missed a layup. But Dunbar flew in to tip-in the rebound and cut the Ole Miss lead to 56-53 with 9:36 left in the second half.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Ole Miss made 27-of-37 free throws (73.0 percent) while Auburn made just 9-of-17 (52.9 percent).
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: Bruce Pearl on a tough loss: “I thought the physicality of the game was obviously different than what I could duplicate in practice. And the pace. They out-rebounded us, and when they get 13 offensive rebounds and we have 21 defensive rebounds, too many 50/50 balls. We had eight 2-point baskets, and that means guys getting to the rim and finishing, and finishing through contact. We did a poor job of getting to the free throw line. They shot 37 free throws and we shot 17. We just weren’t physical enough, we weren’t tough enough. Give Ole Miss credit because they beat us in those categories. It’s something we’ll learn from, but going in this was my biggest concern and a lot of our things got exposed.”
