Ole Miss to Host No. 11 Auburn in a SEC Showdown

Dominik Olejiniczak goes after the lose ball against Alabama. Photo by Joshua McCoy / Ole Miss Athletics

Ole Miss returns to the friendly confines of the Pavilion this evening as they take on the No. 11 Auburn Tigers in an SEC tilt. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. on SEC Network.

Ole Miss (11-10, 4-4 SEC) looks to rebound from the 85-72 loss at Texas in the Big 12-SEC Challenge Saturday. Sophomore center Dominik Olejiniczak scored a career-high 16 points against the Longhorns.
Senior Deandre Burnett is averaging 20.8 points per game in the Rebels’ four conference wins. He is also one of two players in the SEC to rank top 10 in the conference in assists, assist/turnover ratio, three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
The Rebels have won six straight home games and are undefeated in conference play on Craddock Court in the Pavilion.
Auburn enters tonight’s matchup with a 19-2 record, including 7-1 in the SEC to sit atop the conference. The Tigers’ only SEC loss came at the hands of rival Alabama (Jan. 17), but they have rattled off three straight wins since their lone setback. Auburn leads the SEC in multiple categories, including scoring offense (86.0 ppg), scoring margin (+13.8), free throw percentage (.785), offensive rebounds per game (12.8) and three pointers made per game (10.0).
The Tigers rank third nationally in free throws made (408) as well as sixth in blocks per game (6.2). Individually, Anfernee McLemore is ninth in the country as the SEC’s leader in blocks (3.0 per game). Auburn averages 86.0 ppg to rank 10th nationally led by Bryce Brown (16.3 ppg) and Mustapha Heron (15.3 ppg). Making 4.1 threes per game and shooting 47.8 percent from long distance, Brown is the conference leader in both categories.
Bruce Pearl is in his fourth season guiding the Auburn program. He is in his 23rd season as a head coach with stops at Southern Indiana (1992-2001), Milwaukee (2001-05) and Tennessee (2005-11) before arriving at Auburn in 2014.
Auburn leads the all-time series 76-58, but the Rebels have won 10 of the last 11 over the Tigers, and 13 of the last 16. In the first matchup of the season, Auburn rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to snap the Rebels 10-game winning streak in the series. It was the longest in school history against an SEC foe, bettering a pair of eight-game streaks against LSU and Mississippi State. During the winning streak, five of the Rebels’ victories occurred in Oxford, four in Auburn and one at the SEC Tournament (2012).

Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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