Auburn basketball looks to snap streak at Ole Miss
By Jay Phillips
Auburn basketball travels to Oxford to play Ole Miss tonight (Jan. 28) at 8 p.m. central.
Last year, Ole Miss welcomed Auburn to conference play with an 82-67 beatdown in Oxford.
Auburn got its chance for revenge later that season in Auburn, on a Wednesday night when Chuma Okeke dropped a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double.
But not even that was enough for Auburn to beat Ole Miss, and the Tigers lost by five points on their second lowest scoring output of the season (55 points).
Past games and all time records aside, Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis had Auburn and Bruce Pearl’s number last year, but Ole Miss has taken a step back so far this year.
The Rebels (Landsharks? Water Bears?) won’t have Terrence Davis, who torched the Tigers for 27 points in Oxford last season, but they will have Breein Tyree, who is averaging nearly 19 points per game. Despite Tyree’s season, Ole Miss has had problems finding scoring help.
On paper, that makes it look like a matchup the Tigers should win, considering Isaac Okoro and Samir Doughty have made names for themselves when it comes to shutting down high scoring guards.
On top of that, Ole Miss is the second to last SEC team in offensive efficiency and 10th in defensive efficiency in conference play.
Ole Miss also has the second worst block percentage for any SEC team in conference play, which means Auburn might be able to find a good amount of points on drives if the Tigers’ outside shots aren’t falling.
It looks like a game Auburn could win, but with Kentucky and College Gameday coming to Auburn on Saturday (Feb. 1), Ole Miss in Oxford has some trap game qualities to it.