The Auburn Tigers basketball team picked up their first conference road win of the season yesterday in Oxford, Mississippi. Steven Pearl and the Tigers took down the Ole Miss Rebels 78-66 despite repeated attempts by the Rebs to come back and take the lead.
Throughout the game, Auburn kept finding ways to get to the foul line and improved massively in shooting free throws. Keyshawn Hall was 11-of-12, Tahaad Pettiford was 6-of-6, and KeShawn Murphy was 6-of-7 on the foul line by the end of the night.
But late in the game, the star of the show was truly Pettiford, whose highlight of the game was his massive dunk over Ole Miss' Corey Chest. Pettiford ran the length of the court after the inbound and slammed the ball with his non-dominant hand to put Auburn up by seven in the final minutes.
"He was a floor general tonight in the truest sense," Pearl said. "He managed the game really well at a high level. I thought he played with great poise and great tempo. On the road, that's what we need from him to keep us settled down. He played great tonight."
Pettiford ended the game with 17 points—seven of which came in the final three minutes of the contest—two rebounds, and three assists with only two turnovers.
"Tahaad, man," Pearl said, per Auburn Undercover. "Tahaad Pettiford was just so in control tonight. He wasn't sped up, he only had two turnovers. He had three assists, but he probably should have had six or seven if guys would have made some shots. Him on that possession, he drives the paint, plays off two feet, uses a shot fake, turns around, and that guy jumps, and he gets an and-one. So I thought Tahaad's made a lot of progress in the last couple of games. Just he did a great job of controlling that game. And it was really important to us winning it."
The Tigers return to action this Saturday with a big challenge as they face the Florida Gators on the road.