Auburn, AL (EETV) - Auburn and Ole Miss meet again with Auburn hoping for a different outcome playing on their home court. However, despite a late surge by the Tigers, Auburn couldn’t complete the comeback and suffered their second straight loss to Ole Miss 60-55.
Both Auburn and Ole Miss started off to a slow start, both teams scoreless for the first couple minutes of the game. After which, Ole Miss started to heat up and Auburn to catch up through most of the game. Ole Miss retained the lead for 35 minutes while Auburn only held that honor for 21 seconds.
Chuma Okeke was Auburn’s top scorer with 23 points and 11 rebounds in the game, followed by Jared Harper contributing 10.
Breein Tyree’s 20 points and 4 rebounds led the way for Ole Miss. He also ended the game with the most steals between both teams.
Both teams turned the ball over a great deal (Auburn with 14 and Ole Miss with 13), however Auburn’s turnovers severely hurt them as many off these miscues directly lead to fast break points for the other team. Point Guard Jared Harper was the main culprit with this having committed 6 of those 14 turnovers himself. Only having 2 assists to go along with that stat didn’t help Auburn’s cause.
Auburn shot only 32% from the field in the first half and didn’t fare much better in the second; ending the game shooting only 32.7% total and 25% from 3.
Bryce Brown, Auburn’s best 3PT shooter contributed to this poor percentage having shot 7 3PT attempts and only making 1.
With under a minute left in the game, Auburn had successfully pulled themselves out of their deficit, only being down by 3 with a chance to tie, however the shots continued to bounce off the rim as this proved not to be Auburn’s night to shine.
Bruce Pearls tone for after the game reflected the sentiment felt by most fans in attendance in that the team’s success depends heavily on their team leader Jared Harper. “I’d like to able to win a basketball game when Jared doesn’t have a great game. When he plays well, we win… We should be able to step up in other areas.”
Auburn falls to 5-6 in SEC play and 16-8 overall and they will be on the road Saturday against the Vanderbilt Commedores.
