OXFORD — Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard is confident his team will be ready to win games like Saturday’s come March. But there are still tough lessons to be learned on that journey. And top-ranked Auburn had an answer for every jab the Rebels threw their way.
Auburn hit 14 3-pointers Saturday afternoon against No. 23 Ole Miss — each seemingly more consequential than the previous — as the No. 1 Tigers took down the Rebels 92-82 in front of 9,974 fans at SJB Pavilion, the third-largest crowd in program history. National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Tigers, and senior guard Sean Pedulla led the Rebels with 29 points.
Ole Miss (16-6, 5-4 SEC) cut Auburn’s lead down to one possession on five different occasions in the second half but was never able to tie or take the lead. The Rebels, who missed 11 free throws in the game, fell to 0-17 all-time against AP No. 1 teams. It was the 13th win a row for the Tigers (20-1, 8-0).
“Auburn’s really good. As good as advertised. I think we’re right there,” Beard said. “I think we can beat teams like this, but it’s going to take one of our bigger efforts, A, A-plus type effort. Today, (I’m) really proud of our players, how hard we fought. We just have to play better in different areas of the game. Give Auburn credit. That’s what good teams do, they find a way to win.”
Ole Miss forced five turnovers in the game’s first three-and-a-half minutes and took an early 10-6 lead. A 3-pointer from Chaney Johnson — the Tigers’ fourth in the first eight minutes — broke a 14-all tie and helped spur a 9-0 Auburn run. The Rebels endured a nearly four-minute scoring drought and trailed by five at the under-eight minute timeout.
Senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield scored all 12 of his points in the first half, including a layup with a minute remaining that cut the Rebels’ deficit down to one. Auburn responded with a pair of late 3-pointers —one came from Broome with two seconds to play — that gave the Tigers a 41-34 halftime lead. Broome scored 13 points in the first and grabbed seven rebounds. Auburn hit 8 of 15 3-pointers in the period and outrebounded Ole Miss 22-12. The Rebels were 4 of 10 from the free throw line in the half.
Seven-straight points from Ole Miss — highlighted by a Pedulla 3-pointer — trimmed the deficit to one less than four minutes into the second. But as was the case much of the day, Auburn responded, quickly rattling off eight-straight points of its own. Ole Miss continued to battle, again cutting the lead down to a point with just over eight minutes to play on a free throw from senior guard Jaylen Murray, though he missed the attempt that could have tied the game. With their lead once again down to three, Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara hit a 3-pointer, the first of five-straight Tigers points that led to a nine-point lead with just over five minutes to play.
“What do teams like Auburn do? They make you pay. … They make big shots in big moments. They make big plays in big moments. I think our team has the ability to do that,” Beard said. “It’s early February. I think we can play with teams like this right now. I know we can. So we’ll just keep working towards where we can beat teams like this in March.”
A pair of free throws by senior guard Matthew Murrell with just under two minutes remaining cut Auburn’s lead back down to four. But Broome answered with a floater through contact and hit the ensuing free throw to all but ice the game. The Tigers hit all nine of their free throw attempts over the final 1:33.
Murrell scored 17 points in the loss while Brakefield finished with 12. Five Auburn players finished in double-figure scoring, and Dylan Cardwell joined Broome with a double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds).
“My biggest takeaway is that we’re good enough to play with just about anybody in the country. I think we knew that, but I think it’s different when you go out and show it, up against the No. 1 team in the country,” Pedulla said. “ … (Auburn doesn’t) really miss very many opportunities as far as making us pay. … We can play with teams like this. It’s kind of the same story all year, it’s going to take some more, a little bit (of) extra discipline, doing what we say we’re going to do in practice and bringing that to the court and executing that at the end of a game to beat a team like that.”
Ole Miss hosts No. 12 Kentucky tonight at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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