Ole Miss basketball's offense improves, but Rebels find a different way to lose to Auburn
OXFORD — The juice seemed like it had returned. Ole Miss basketball was playing offense better than it has in more than a month. It had energy. It wasn't getting in its own way. It even had a halftime lead against a ranked foe.
By the 12-minute mark of the second half, the cup was empty. No juice remained after No. 22 Auburn began the second half on a 19-8 run, undoing a little more than 20 minutes of positive Ole Miss work. The Tigers (13-3, 3-1 SEC) handed the Rebels (8-8, 0-4) an 82-73 defeat Tuesday night at SJB Pavilion – their fifth in a row and fourth on the bounce to start SEC play.
Defense hurts Rebels down the stretch
Ole Miss has spent the post-Thanksgiving portion of its schedule losing games because it couldn't score.
That wasn't quite the case against the Tigers, with the Rebels posting their highest points total since the onset of SEC play. It certainly wasn't an outstanding offensive night for Ole Miss, but it was good enough to win if the Rebels held up on the other end of the floor.
The extended stretch of stops Ole Miss needed never came, as the Tigers had their best offensive night in SEC play so far.
The second half was particularly problematic. Auburn got open look after open look on its way to a 60.7% success rate from the field in the last 20 minutes.
Auburn starts second half with a run
Much of Ole Miss' first-half positivity stemmed from a good job taking care of the basketball and Auburn's inability to connect from 3-point range.
Neither of those trends persisted into the early second half.
Ole Miss turned the ball over four times in the first 9:28 of the second frame, contributing to Auburn's game-winning run.
After the Tigers started the game 1-for-8 from beyond the arc, some positive regression seemed likely. And it came swiftly.
Wendell Green Jr. connected twice early from 3-point range and Allen Flanigan added another as the Tigers started 3-for-4.
The Auburn onslaught forced Kermit Davis into a timeout at the 10:32 mark, with the Rebels down 12.
By then it was too late. Ole Miss never seriously threatened the Tigers with a comeback.
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Ole Miss translates clean first half into lead at the break
The Rebels weren't spectacularly efficient in the first half, but they did make one major improvement relative to how they've been playing lately.
They took care of the basketball.
Ole Miss shot only 39% as a team, but it committed only a pair of turnovers compared to six for Auburn.
The Rebels led by as many as seven points early in the first half, but Auburn quickly retaliated, leading to what became an entertaining, back-and-forth half that Ole Miss completed with a one-point lead that disappeared after the break.
Up next
Ole Miss will play a second consecutive home game when it hosts Georgia on Saturday (12 p.m., SEC Network). The Bulldogs (11-4, 1-1) host Mississippi State on Wednesday, giving the Rebels an extra day of prep.
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss basketball offense improves, but Rebels still fall to Auburn
