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Auburn Basketball at Ole Miss Preview and Predictions

By Jacob Varner

Jan 23, 2016; Gainesville, FL, USA; Auburn Tigers guard Kareem Canty (1) signals a play while being guarded by Florida Gators forward Dorian Finney-Smith (10) during the second half of a basketball game at Stephen C. O
Jan 23, 2016; Gainesville, FL, USA; Auburn Tigers guard Kareem Canty (1) signals a play while being guarded by Florida Gators forward Dorian Finney-Smith (10) during the second half of a basketball game at Stephen C. O /
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Auburn basketball (9-9, 3-4) heads to Ole Miss (12-7, 2-5) looking to snap out of their road woes. Auburn is coming off of a beat down in Gainesville where they lost 95-63 to Florida, while a banged up Ole Miss team lost a close one to their rival Mississippi State to give the Bulldogs their first win in conference play.

Jan 19, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels guard Stefan Moody (42) shoots the ball over South Carolina Gamecocks guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) during the second half at The Pavilion at Ole Miss. The Gamecocks won 77-74. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels guard Stefan Moody (42) shoots the ball over South Carolina Gamecocks guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) during the second half at The Pavilion at Ole Miss. The Gamecocks won 77-74. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports /

Playing on the road definitely hasn’t been Auburn’s strong suite this year, but the Tigers will have another winnable game on the road after playing at Vanderbilt and Florida, which are two places where Auburn basketball has struggled a lot in the past. This time, Auburn heads to the brand new Pavilion at Ole Miss, which just opened earlier this year. The new building is very similar to Auburn Arena, so maybe the Tigers can find some similarities in their home court play while they’re there. Auburn took a break on Sunday to recover from the big loss to Florida and a win at Ole Miss will be huge in proving that this Auburn basketball team can in fact win away from Auburn Arena.

Injuries and road struggles have been the story for Auburn basketball so far this season, but they could be running into another team with significant injury issues of their own. Ole Miss lost their last game against Mississippi State mostly because their best player Stefan Moody sat out along with fellow starters Sebastian Siaz and Martavious Newby.

Stefan Moody leads the SEC at 24.3 points per game and is still one of the most explosive players in the league. If he isn’t able to go for Ole Miss, Auburn could have a slight advantage in this road game. Moody had a shot to play on Saturday but eventually was ruled out leading up to the game but he’s back practicing lightly this week, so I’d expect him to play this game. Almost equally important, Siaz was on a stationary bike for the entire practice on Monday, so he could be less likely to play against the Tigers.

If neither Moody or Siaz play, Auburn should be able to get the win, but just playing an Ole Miss team without Siaz would give Auburn a boost in the rebound department. Auburn has been one of the worst rebounding teams this year so playing Ole Miss without Siaz on the floor could be the advantage that Auburn needs.

Also last in the SEC, Auburn is giving up over 78 points per game this season and with the Tigers facing the league’s leading scorer, it’s less than likely that that trend will stop in this game. Bruce Pearl was frustrated with the Tigers defensive ability against Florida and he knows they’ll have to make it more difficult for Ole Miss to score if the Tigers have any chance of getting a road win. Defense is key, especially on the road, which explains a lot of Auburn’s issues away from home.

With just two wins over Georgia and Alabama and four straight losses coming into the game, Ole Miss is a team that Auburn can beat as long as they don’t get off to another terrible start. With or without Siaz in the lineup, Cinmeon Bowers needs to crash the boards on every possession. He needs to look to get rebounds first before he thinks about being a scorer.

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The scoring will have to come from Kareem Canty and Tyler Harris at first, but once they start to draw the defense or either of them gets off to a slow start, then the Tigers need to start moving the ball around. Jordon Granger shot the ball well last game so look for Auburn to find him in a corner or finally get Bryce Brown back on track like he was a few games ago.

Ole Miss gets a steal on 11.4 percent of their possessions so Auburn will need to take extra care of the ball in this game. If Ole Miss is able to force turnovers, they will get out in transition and Auburn could be looking at another Florida situation early in this game. Canty needs to let the offense flow through him and have more assists than turnovers in this game, while also scoring a majority of the points. If Auburn is to win this game, Canty will probably have to outscore Moody and state his case as the better point guard in the SEC.

It’s getting really difficult to pick Auburn on the road, but under the assumption that Siaz continues to sit due to injury and Moody comes back to play in this one, I still think Auburn can finally get it done on the road. Auburn stays alive on the boards and Canty has a big night from the three-point line in the Pavilion at Ole Miss. Auburn wins 85-80 to snap a six game losing steak against Ole Miss.

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