The No. 13 Auburn Tigers will face former Tiger Allen Flanigan and his new team on Saturday, as Bruce Pearl and his squad face the No. 22 Ole Miss Rebels.
It will be the Tigers' second ranked matchup of the season, as they played now ninth-ranked Baylor in the first game of the season and lost in a close one 88-82.
“This is a really talented roster,” Pearl said about Ole Miss. “And coach (Chris) Beard has done a great job in his first year in the league as they’ve only lost two games on the road at LSU and at Tennessee. So, I think it’s obviously what coach Beard and what I have worked towards, and that is to try to have an Ole Miss-Auburn game, two ranked opponents, which has never happened, if I’m right.”
Auburn (15-2, 4-0 in SEC) in its past few games have had consistent play from senior Jaylin Williams. He has shot lights out from the floor, going for 30 points combined in his past two games and making all seven of his shots attempted against Vanderbilt.
Dylan Cardwell is another player who had a great performance offensively in the win against Vanderbilt on Wednesday night, going for a career-high 12 points.
Ole Miss (15-2, 2-2 in SEC) has been known to cause havoc at the rim on defense as it has one of the tallest players in Division I basketball in Jamarion Sharp, who stands at 7-foot-5. Paired with 7-footer Moussa Cisse, the two average a combined 4.3 blocks per game.
“You know they’re one of the leading shot blocking teams in the country,” Pearl said. “And I think they’re number three in the country in blocked shots. So, you know, their rim protection is obviously elite."
It has been the team’s main calling card on the defensive end, though the Rebels also put some impressive numbers up on the other end of the court. Matthew Murrell and Flanigan, two seniors, are leading the team in points per game with Murrell averaging 17.4 and Flanigan 16.5.
“Matthew Murrell has always been one of the best two guards in our league, and he’s having his best year now,” Pearl said. “Allen, particularly the way he played in the conference season a year ago if you look at our numbers, last year in conference he played his best basketball at the end of his senior year, and he’s playing great basketball again this year."
The Tigers will need to be able to defend the three-point line well as the Rebels are shooting at a 39% clip as a team. It will also be important to keep them off the boards when Cisse and Sharp are in the game.
Look for Auburn’s guards to drive into the lane and create contact against those two bigs and get them into foul trouble, so that the Tigers don’t have to worry about the imposing rim protection the Rebels have with those two 7-footers.
With a win Saturday night, the Tigers would be at 5-0 in conference play and have their first ranked win of the season.
Auburn will tip off its game against Ole Miss at Neville Arena on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. CST on the SEC Network.
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William Halliday started with The Plainsman in fall 2022. He is a journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee.
Twitter: @wphalliday3
