The first Saturday in February delivered a treat as the 23rd-ranked Ole Miss Rebels welcomed the top-ranked Auburn Tigers to the Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi, for an exciting few hours of Southeastern Conference basketball. One of the hottest tickets in college basketball was the ticket in Oxford, as the Auburn Tigers looked to take their undefeated SEC record on the road against a scrappy Ole Miss team with an upset on their mind. They looked to continue the momentum from the massive win on Wednesday night, where they beat Texas.

Back-and-forth haymakers from Auburn and Ole Miss gave the fans a first half to remember as the Tigers and Rebels battled for a first-half lead. However, as the buzzer sounded on the half, a Johni Broome back-pointer pushed the Auburn lead to seven as the Tigers took a 41-34 lead over the Rebels to the break.

At half, Jaemyn Brakefield led the way in scoring for the Rebels with 12 points. While a combination of Johni Broome and Denver Jones each had 13 for the Auburn Tigers.

The first-half box score shows Auburn’s three-point shooting: 8-15 from behind the arc.

As the second half got underway, a flagrant one on Auburn would cut the Tigers’ lead to one, but as Auburn does, they quickly took away the Rebels’ life, extending the lead to 49-43 with 15:25 on the game clock. At the under-12 media timeout with 11:56 to play, Auburn held on for dear life to a 54-50 lead over the Rebels. With 7:45 on the game clock and the under-8 media timeout, Auburn would have two free throws incoming while clinging to a 59-58 lead over the Rebels. Auburn pushing the lead to 68-60 forced Coach Chris Beard to call a timeout with 6:00 minutes remaining to try and calm the Rebels down before Auburn made the lead too tall of a task to overcome. A small Ole Miss run forced an Auburn timeout with 4:37 on the game clock as the Tigers led it 71-66. Chad Baker-Mazara would nail a massive one following a drive to the basket for Auburn to extend the lead to 74-66. As the final media timeout rolled around, Auburn had extended the lead over Ole Miss to 76-68.

Losing is never fun, but Ole Miss is right there and can hang with just about anybody in the country. With Kentucky on the horizon, the Rebels have another chance to break through with a signature win under Coach Chris Beard. Putting it together for a full sixty minutes is the difference maker. Ole Miss is right there with the talent and coaching, but it’s getting across the finish line and is the difference-maker for the Rebels this season.

Ole Miss returns home on Tuesday night as they welcome the Kentucky Wildcats to Oxford for another night of insane Southeastern Conference Basketball.

Top-ranked Auburn returns home for two games as they host Oklahoma on Tuesday night before a showdown with the Gators of Florida on Saturday.

Photo Credits – Auburn and Ole Miss Basketball on X