If Auburn finds itself ranked No. 1 in the country Monday, it certainly earned it in Oxford.
The Tigers held on during an early barrage from the Rebels and trailed by as many as 14 in the first half before making the winning plays down the stretch, as No. 4 Auburn (16-1, 5-0 SEC) downed Ole Miss on the road Saturday night, 80-71.
“I just think we all stuck together,” Walker Kessler said postgame. “We all understood what it took to win, and we all came together and got the win.”
Here are Auburn Undercover’s takeaways, as the Tigers are 5-0 to start SEC play for the first time since the 1998-99 season — when Cliff Ellis‘ team ultimately finished with the best regular-season record (26-2) in program history.
EARLY OLE MISS BARRAGE
The Rebels showed no fear of the No. 4 team in the country, riding early offensive momentum and building a double-digit lead in the first half.
Ole Miss, at times, looked as if it couldn’t miss. It started 5-of-9 from 3-point range to create the largest deficit of SEC play for Auburn, 27-20, forcing Bruce Pearl into a rare timeout.
After the 13:00 mark, where Auburn led by 1, Ole Miss went on a 20-6 run, making 7-of-9 shots. It was clean basketball for the Rebels, too, as they had zero turnovers and zero fouls more than 16 minutes into the game. It took more than 19 minutes of action for Ole Miss’ first foul. The Rebels’ Tye Fagan went 5-of-5 from the floor and led all scorers with 12 points in the first half.
“Ole Miss came out intent on winning, defending their home floor,” Pearl said. “Had a great game plan. They made shots and they guarded us. We couldn’t guard them in the first half until sort of the end of the first half.
Auburn wasn’t inept on offense, but it tried working its way back from beyond the arc, and it went only 3-12 from deep after making its first two triples of the game.
IMPORTANT DEFENSE BY JOHNSON BEFORE HALFTIME
Auburn needed a strong finish to the first half after getting sucker punched out of the gate, and it delivered on both ends of the floor.
The Tigers made three straight shots after going down 13 points, and they forced four turnovers in the final 3 minutes of the half.
Two steals by K.D. Johnson (14 points) in the final minute led to three made free throws, helping Auburn finish off an 11-4 run heading into the break. Auburn trailed 44-38 at halftime.
“When K.D. Johnson made a few plays defensively … obviously gave us a little bit of a lift going into the locker room,” Pearl said.
TIGERS STORM BACK
Auburn weathered the early blitz from Ole Miss and continued to improve defensively out of the gates in the second half. Then the 3-pointers started falling.
Wendell Green Jr. and Zep Jasper made triples on back-to-back possessions, as Auburn grabbed the lead 9 minutes into the second half, 58-53, with an 11-0 run.
The Tigers had missed 12 of their last 13 attempts from beyond the arc before Green Jr.’s triple gave Auburn its first lead since 7 minutes into the game and sent the big Auburn crowd that made the trip to Oxford into a frenzy.
Auburn’s defense had held Ole Miss without a made basket on eight straight possessions before the run was broken by a Matthew Murrell 3-pointer, and Ole Miss had four turnovers as Auburn worked its way back into the lead.
“We got more engaged defensively and that clearly made the difference,” Pearl said. “It’s what won the Alabama game for us and it’s what won the game for us here tonight — our second-half defense.”
Ole Miss tied things back up at 58-58, though, as Auburn went more than 4 minutes without a made basket.
But Auburn punched back again with a 9-0 run that gave it its largest lead of the game, 67-58 with 5:27 left — highlighted by Kessler’s continued domination on the interior, and Johnson’s wide-open triple.
Auburn overall went on a 20-5 run over more than 8:30 of game time in the meat of the second half.
Jabari Smith’s first 3-point make of the game came in a big spot, with a pullup triple to put Auburn up 74-67 with just under 3 minutes left. The freshman (15 points) then iced the game with a left-handed finish at the rim to give Auburn a 9-point lead with less than 1:30 to play.
KESSLER TAKES OVER
Kessler had a tough past couple games, fouling out against both Florida and Alabama — and he scored just 2 points in Tuscaloosa.
Auburn’s starting center stayed out of foul trouble in Oxford, and he was the Tigers’ best player Saturday night. Kessler stuffed the stat sheet — and he stuffed the Rebels with his defense.
In likely his second-best game of the season behind his triple-double against LSU, Kessler finished with 20 points on an efficient 9-of-11, with 10 rebounds, half of them offensive, and had no turnovers — all while tying a team-high 32 minutes played.
“You know, those first two games were frustrating,” Kessler said. “But it was fun to play and get all that frustration out.”
On the defensive end, he swatted seven shots and had four steals. He had a pair of baskets, plus a block on a 3-point shot, as Auburn stretched its lead to double digits in the last 5 minutes of the game.
“Walker was dominant,” Pearl said. “He was dominant at the rim on both ends of the floor. He’s got great hands and he’s got toughness and he’s not afraid to make plays in the air. So big blocked shots, got deflections, big rebounds, he’s got great hands and he owned the paint.”
TIME FOR NO. 1?
No. 3 UCLA and No. 1 Baylor both lost this week, so with two wins, Auburn is at least in line to take the No. 2 spot in Monday’s AP poll. That would tie the program’s highest ranking ever during the 1998-99 season.
But if the voters value No. 4 Auburn’s resume over No. 2 Gonzaga’s, it will be the first time in program history the Tigers have taken the top spot in the rankings. The poll drops at 11 a.m. CST on Monday.
“We’ve managed the target a little bit for the last week or so because we’ve kind of put ourselves in position all of a sudden where we started, you know, climbing the rankings a little bit,” Pearl said after the in. “And so we had to deal with it tonight. Look, we’re going to get beat, and when we get beat it’s not because we rested on our laurels or we started to pay too (much) attention to what the media is saying. … But at the same time, it is historic, and it does matter. And it does mean something. You know, that’ll be a proud moment for Auburn, period.”
