OXFORD, Miss. — After trailing most of the first half, the Auburn Tigers pulled out an 80-71 win over the Ole Miss Rebels to improve their record to 16-1 overall and 5-0 in SEC play.
Ole Miss lit the nets on fire in the first half, shooting 50% from 3-point range and leading by as much as 14 in the first frame. Change was needed from the Auburn side to pull out a win.
“We knew that we had to make a change,” said sophomore center Walker Kessler. “We made that change. We were more physical and just cared more. We really got the win."
Auburn was down 13 with 1:17 left in the first half and in desperate need of momentum, so enter K.D. Johnson — who chipped away at the lead with points off of turnovers.
“That was very big,” Johnson said. “They were up a little bit too much going into halftime. We came down — actually, I came down and got two crucial steals late in the first half to knock the lead down a little bit. That helped us come out hard in the second half.”
Auburn went back and forth with the Rebels to start the second half but took a 55-53 lead with 12:08 left in the game, never trailing for the rest of the contest. A big reason for Auburn’s comeback was Wendell Green hitting Walker Kessler down low on alley-oops.
January 15, 2022; Oxford, Mississippi; Walker Kessler (13) takes an alley-oop to the rim in a match between Auburn and Ole Miss in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion.
“It’s very easy to get that backside lob when Wendell’s driving downhill,” Kessler said. “Wen’s such a good passer, even if he’s playing at the rim, he can get that late pass, so I trust him that he’ll make the right play.”
After struggling with foul trouble the past two games, Kessler turned in one of his best performances of the season, posting 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds, seven blocks, and four steals.
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun,” Kessler said. “Those last two games were frustrating, but it was fun to play and get all that frustration out.”
Auburn extended the lead to 71-60 in the second half, but Ole Miss rattled off a 7-0 run to cut the lead to four points, so in desperate need of a basket the Tigers turned to the run-stopper — Jabari Smith.
“Look, [Jabari]’s not afraid, alright,” said coach Bruce Pearl. “And if our guys don’t figure out that they need to get him the ball in those situations and somebody else takes a big shot, that’s going to be a problem. Again, there are times when you’ve got nine guys out there on the floor but we’ve got [No.] 10 and you don’t. [No.] 10 made plays on both ends at the end.”
Green only hit three shots on the night, but they were as big as they come. They were the shots that cut the Ole Miss lead to three and gave Auburn a lead it never relinquished.
The second half was almost the inverse of the first for Auburn’s defense, as the Tigers allowed 27 points while only allowing the Rebels to shoot 29% from the field.
“Well, I honestly think that the way we guarded — as hard as Ole Miss runs their cuts in their offense and as much as we try and defend, I think it wears [Ole Miss] out a little bit,” Pearl said. “The other guys started defending like K.D. All of a sudden Walker was protecting the rim. Jabari was down in his stance and making life miserable for his guy. Zep was doing his thing and Wendell was too.”
January 15, 2022; Oxford, Mississippi; Zep Jasper (12) gets back on defense during a match between Auburn and Ole Miss in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion.
The Auburn crowd was present in Oxford. There were numerous “Let’s go Auburn” chants in the arena and the players noticed.
“To me, they're the No. 1 fans in the world,” Johnson said. “I love 'em. They travel with us, they came out before we had the game, they were in our lobby. I just love the War Eagle family. For them to come out our way in Oxford, in this weather, to come to support us.”
After several members of the AP Top 5 went down, including No. 1 Baylor and No. 3 UCLA, there's a chance that Auburn could be ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history in the next poll.
“It is historic, and it does matter,” Pearl said about the potential ranking. “It does mean something. You know, that'll be a proud moment for Auburn, period.”
Auburn’s next game will be at Auburn Arena against Georgia on Wednesday, Jan. 29th. The game will tip at 8 p.m. CST on ESPNU.
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Henry is a sophomore from Dallas, Texas. This is his second year with The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @Henry_Patton23
