Auburn came into the SEC tournament surrounded by media attention of the FBI investigation of Varez Ward and couldn't find a their rhythm to a 68-54 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels.
The first five minutes were back and forth from both teams, as Auburn tied Ole Miss at 17 with 8 minutes remaining.
The Rebels pulled ahead by three with 7:30 remaining, but senior center Rob Chubb fought in the paint for a layup to close the gap to two.
Ole Miss shot just 8-20 free throws and 2-9 three point attempts in the first 17 minutes while the Tigers stuck with zone defense in the first half.
Rebels guard Nick Williams scored a jumper with two minutes remaining in the first half to put Ole Miss ahead by seven.
Auburn didn't score a field goal in the last five and a half minutes. Ole Miss led at halftime 28-23.
Williams came out hot shooting back to back three pointers in the second half and put Ole Miss up 38-28.
Junior guard Frankie Sullivan made three foul shots to close the gap to 7 and junior guard Josh Wallace broke away to add two more.
Senior forward Kenny Gabriel was in foul trouble early with four in the opening minutes of the second half, but Auburn showed a persistent defensive effort early in second half, holding the Rebels to 39.5 percent field-goal shooting with 11 minutes remaining.
Williams hit another deep three to bump the Rebels lead to 7, but Gabriel answered back to keep the Tigers close.
Ole Miss extended the lead to 13 with 2:39 remaining and gabriel played only 13 minutes before fouling out in his last game in an Auburn uniform.
The Tigers couldn't lead a comeback and the Tigers lose in the first round of the SEC tournament by 14.
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