Auburn fans couldn’t have drawn up a more perfect start to the 2017-18 basketball season.
Sans an exhibition blemish against D-II Barry, Auburn came out of the gates with guns blazing. Without its two stars – Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy – the Tigers found offense and rebounding as a group en route to a 14-1 start, their best since a 16-1 jolt in 1999-2000.
Insert the team’s first back-to-back wins over ranked opponents since 1958. Insert Auburn being ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2003.
To attempt to crash Bruce Pearl’s party, also insert the Ole Miss Rebels.
Andy Kennedy’s 9-6 Mississippians had won 10 straight over Auburn heading into Tuesday night’s conference showdown in Auburn Arena. Auburn was searching for its first 3-0 SEC start since the 2002-03 season against the recently cursed Rebels.
After a half of play, it looked as though that curse would endure.
Auburn shot 3-of-17 from 3-point range, was out-rebounded 24-21 and committed nine turnovers to Ole Miss’ four. All categories that Pearl’s squad had thrived on through 15 games.
At the break, Pearl preached aggressiveness and patience.
“We were forcing things, too many jumpshots,” Pearl said. “This is the first time we’ve won an SEC game in my time at Auburn where we didn’t play particularly well. I mean, we’ll take it.”
The No. 22 Tigers outscored Ole Miss 50 to 25 in the second to snap their 10-game skid in the series and win Tuesday’s conference clash, 85-70.
Auburn (15-1, 3-0) received an all-around offensive effort, with Jared Harper, Bryce Brown, Mustapha Heron, Desean Murray, Horace Spencer and Anfernee McLemore all turning in double-digit performances in the scoring department.
After the first 20 minutes, the 3-point attempts stopped coming from the Tigers, replaced by drives to the basket, backdoor cuts and free throw line jumpers. Desolate possessions in which all five Tigers finished standing on the 3-point line were replaced by aggressive, all-out commitments to the rack.
A 3-for-17 clip from deep faded into an efficient, 3-for-5 mark in the second half.
“We were settling in the first half,” Pearl said. “We talked about shot selection. Did we shoot the shots we wanted to shoot or the shots they wanted us to shoot?”
The junior forward Murray, who has been Pearl’s Swiss Army knife this season, showcased his versatile game yet again, leading the team in scoring with 16.
Even without his impressive 16 and eight stat-sheet, Murray would still have been Auburn’s MVP of the night. The junior transfer pestered Ole Miss all game, and the Rebels couldn’t shake him.
Murray saw the victory as a turning point in the Tigers’ season.
"That's big to come back like that," Murray said. "That's what makes a championship team different than a regular team. You might be down sometimes, but you're going to have to go in that locker room and you're going to have to all come together and know this game's not over, and we got 20 more minutes we got to go out there and play.”
McLemore, Auburn’s resident rim protector, “block three shots, but altered five or six more,” according to Pearl. McLemore didn’t miss a shot, leading to a 13-point performance.
After wins over ranked Tennessee and Arkansas, Ole Miss’ athletic wings posed problems for Auburn early, even without leading scorer Deandre Burnett, who head coach Andy Kennedy said woke up in the morning with an illness.
Burnett’s replacement, sophomore guard Breein Tyree, led all scorers with 24 points.
“Definitely, they [Auburn] are a Top 25 team,” Tyree said. “They came out with energy and enthusiasm in the second half. I felt my team did as well, but they just made plays and we didn’t.
Over 3,400 students in the “Auburn Jungle” set a record for attendance by Auburn students in the arena, a feat that Pearl says he’s been dreaming of since day one.
The 57-year-old coaching veteran wasn’t surprised, however. Pearl claims that from the beginning, he’s seen the support of Auburn fans remain one step ahead of the on-the-court output from his ball-club.
“The results have been coming, the support has been great,” Pearl said. “And it continues to get better. We’re going to take a bus of students to Mississippi State. How about that? If we sell one bus, we might take two buses. They’re all in.”
Monday afternoon brought big news to The Plains: the team’s first appearance in the polls in 15 years. For Pearl, it’s all been a part of a methodical process.
“I looked at the Top 25 the other day,” Pearl said. “I saw TCU. We beat them last year. There’s Texas Tech. We beat them last year. There’s Xavier. Well we beat them a couple of years ago. There’s Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky. We’ve won those games. It’s not just a this-year thing. The past has put us in this position.”
No. 22 Auburn will head to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Bulldogs this Saturday, Nov. 13. Ole Miss (9-7, 2-2 SEC) will play host to the Florida Gators on the same day.
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