The No. 3 Auburn Tigers welcomed the Ole Miss Rebels into Auburn Arena tonight for a midweek SEC matchup. Auburn came into this game off a disappointing 63-62 loss on Saturday to the Florida Gators at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL. Ole Miss came into this game off after knocking off the Georgia Bulldogs 85-68 at Stegman Coliseum in Athens, GA. The starters for Auburn tonight were K.D. Johnson, Jabari Smith, Allen Flanigan, Zep Jasper, and Walker Kessler. The starters for Ole Miss tonight were Austin Crowley, Matthew Murrell, Luis Rodriguez, Jaemyn Brakefield and Nysier Brooks.
Matthew Murrell was the first player to score tonight as he picked up a dunk on a fast break. K.D. Johnson got the night started for Auburn offensively by hitting two free throws. Auburn followed that up with a lob from Jabari Smith to Walker Kessler. Wendell Greene JR added his name to the scoring list next with a three-pointer. Auburn would hit a dry spell until Jabari Smith hit a mid-range jumper to put Auburn up 9-7. Wendell Greene JR hit two three-pointers to put Auburn up 15-11 and get the crowd back into the game. Walker Kessler assisted Devan Cambridge on a fast break in which he got fouled, the made free throw brought Auburn to the 20 mark. Ole Miss had trouble with fouls as they racked up seven before the first half was to the halfway point. Zep Jasper hit a three-pointer at the 8:11 mark to put Auburn up 27-15. An alley-oop from Wendell Greene JR to Dylan Cardwell and a lay-up by Devan Cambridge put Auburn up 37-26 with 3:02 left in the first half. At the end of the first half, Auburn held a 43-31 lead.
At the halfway point, Auburn’s leading scorer was Wendell Greene JR with 11 points. Jabari Smith led the Tigers in assists with four. Walker Kessler led Auburn in rebounds with seven. The leading scorer for Ole Miss was Nysier Brooks who had 10 points. Austin Crowley led them in assists with two. Nysier Brooks and Luis Rodriguez both had three rebounds.
Auburn took a while to get going in the second half, taking over four minutes to score. Jabari Smith was the one to break the ice with two free-throws at the 15:45 mark. Walker Kessler followed those up with a big dunk. Devan Cambridge dunked a put back at the 13:41 mark and the fans blew the roof off. Jabari Smith drained a mid-range jumper to extend Auburn’s lead back to 10. Zep Jasper hit a three-pointer at the 6:49 mark to give Auburn a 64-49 lead. Ole Miss started a late push, but another Zep Jasper three-pointer would stop it dead in its tracks. A Walker Kessler block followed by an Allen Flanigan lay-up got the crowd roaring once again. Lior Berman coming into the game kept the energy flowing. A three-pointer from Chandler Leopard brought Auburn Arena to a decibel level that is dangerous to human ear drums. When it was all said and done, Auburn won the game 77-64.
The leading scorers for Auburn tonight were Zep Jasper and Jabari Smith who had 15 points each. Jabari Smith also led Auburn in assists with five. Walker Kessler led the Tigers in rebounds with 10.
Jarkel Joiner was the leading scorer for Ole Miss with 13 points. Austin Crowley led them in assists with three. The leading rebounder for the Rebels was Luis Rodriguez with six.
Zep Jasper was asked about when he was feeling it. He answered, “early on in the first half”. Wendell Greene JR was asked about how it felt to get back into a grove. He answered, “It felt good and I got my confidence back”.
In his post game statement, Bruce Pearl said, “We did a good job limiting turnovers” and “We do better when everyone contributes, we had 30 from the bench tonight.”
He was asked about the conversation when he told Zep to find his shot. He answered, “He wanted Zep to know that he believed in him and to be more aggressive.” Coach Pearl also said, “We have a long way to go and there’s a lot of room to get better.”
Auburn will be back in action this Saturday as they travel up to Knoxville, TN to take on the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena.
