The No. 1 Auburn Tigers look to cap off their three-game home stretch with a victory over Ole Miss in the second meeting between the two teams this season.
Auburn traveled to Oxford, Miss., to take on the then No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels. The Tigers took care of business and beat the Rebels 92-82, extending Auburn’s win streak over Ole Miss to seven games and picking up the Tigers' fourth straight victory in Oxford.
The Tigers can make history on Wednesday by breaking the program record for the most consecutive wins over Ole Miss. Earlier this season, they matched their longest winning streak in series history (1990-93 and 1965-68) and could extend it to eight games.
Auburn is currently on a four-game win streak. Its most recent victory was an 82-70 win over Georgia — the team's second victory over the Bulldogs this season. Auburn moved to 13-1 in conference play, two games ahead of Florida.
The Rebels, on the other hand, have been trending downwards after dropping two consecutive games to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, falling out of the most recent AP Poll and finding themselves seventh in the conference with an 8-6 record.
The last meeting in Neville Arena for these two programs was early into the conference play last season when the Tigers handled the Rebels 82-59. The Rebels' last win in Auburn was also their last win in the series history, an 86-84 victory in overtime in the 2020-21 season.
This will be the fifth meeting between Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl and Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard. Pearl has the advantage 4-0, with three victories over OIe Miss and one over Beard during his time at Texas Tech.
The Rebels thrive on turning opponents over and lead the conference in turnovers forced per game with 14.74. In their most recent loss to Vanderbilt, they forced 13 turnovers. Ole Miss will face an Auburn team that does not give away the ball often and ranks second in the conference with only 246 total turnovers on the season, trailing only the Rebels by six.
Ole Miss excels at protecting the ball and forcing turnovers, a performance largely attributed to point guard Sean Pedulla, who ranks fourth in the conference with two steals per game.
Pedulla recorded three steals in the first meeting between the two teams, but his most significant impact was on offense. He scored a season-high 29 points against Auburn —14.2 points above his average.
Pedulla wasn't the only Rebel to exceed expectations, as fellow guard Matthew Murrell scored 17 points, well above his season average of 11. This marked the beginning of a four-game streak of double-figure performances, though his production has slowed recently with just eight points combined over the past two games.
The No. 1 Auburn Tigers look to complete the season sweep of the Ole Miss Rebels for the fourth consecutive season in Neville Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN2.
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Craig Noyes is a senior from Kensington, Maryland, majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in January 2023.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @CraigNoyes58
