Another road game, another loss for the Ole Miss Rebels as they count down the seconds to return to Oxford on Wednesday night against the Razorbacks of Arkansas. Coach Chris Beard and his Ole Miss Rebels entered a hornets’ nest on Saturday night as they traveled to the Plains to take on the best team in the Southeastern Conference, Auburn. Neville Arena was rocking, and the Ole Miss Rebels had no answer for the hostile environment. As a result of the environment and playing a better team, Ole Miss left Auburn without securing their first Southeastern Conference road victory of the season.

Auburn came into the matchup with Ole Miss looking to make a statement to the rest of the Southeastern Conference that the Tigers were not to be messed with, and protecting homecourt and chasing an SEC Championship were the most important goals for this team to hit before making a run at winning a National Championship for Auburn.

For Ole Miss, the loss to Auburn doesn’t spell panic, but getting embarrassed for the second time on the road in Southeastern Conference play is a concern. Ole Miss was embarrassed by more than 20 points in two of their first three Southeastern Conference road games. First was a 26 26-point beatdown to open the Southeastern Conference in Knoxville, as the Rebels had no answer for the explosive Tennessee Volunteers. With the third loss of the season coming on the road in Baton Rouge by nine, the Rebels are 15-3 overall on the season, with all three losses coming away from Oxford.

So, where does Ole Miss go from here? The good news is, other than the road trip to Lexington in a few weeks to take on Kentucky, Ole Miss has a manageable road test remaining. Ole Miss has road games at Kentucky, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Missouri, and Georgia left on the schedule. Other than the road trip to Lexington, Ole Miss has the potential to win the remaining road games leading to the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

Win the games in Oxford you’re supposed to win, plus an upset over Auburn and Alabama; the Rebels will be cooking once more as they prepare for the SEC Tournament and beyond. Sure, losing on the roads sucks and makes little to no sense for a team that does so well at home, but there’s still two months of basketball before Selection Sunday rolls around.

Figure out what works at home in front of your fans, then take that and use that to win games on the road in the Southeastern Conference. That’s about as simple as it gets. If something is working while playing at home, figure out what that is and use that to take over on the road, preparing the troops for the grind of March Madness.

Ole Miss will return home on Wednesday night as they prepare to take on the Razorbacks of Arkansas in a bounce-back game for the Rebels.