Kermit Davis reveals how Ole Miss battled back against Auburn

On paper, Wednesday’s Ole Miss–Auburn game should have not been a close contest. The Tigers were in desperate need of a win, while head coach Kermit Davis has seen his team struggle. Even so, the Neville Arena crowd was given a treat, watching the hometown Auburn team get a slight win.

However, things were not comfortable throughout. Ole Miss walks away with a five-point loss and made it interesting in the final seconds. Davis believes his team was resilient all night and able to battle back into the game, playing well on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

“I thought our team, we were good in transition,” Davis said. “We really started guarding. We had about five or six stops in a row. Great in transition. I thought we shared the ball well and it was really defensively. They made some tough shots and Auburn can do that — a talented group.

“We just kept our head down. Down 11 and defensively got back, got some turnovers, created some good offense, ran some good halfcourt offense. Just really proud of our guys.”

Ole Miss shot over 40% from the field despite struggling from behind the three-point line at times. They were able to get Auburn to turn the ball over as well, forcing 12. If a struggling team is going to win an SEC game on the road, that’s the recipe you would usually cook up.

Unfortunately for Davis, the effort came up just short. Some mishaps down the stretch played into the result, especially playing away from Oxford. Nonetheless, a solid overall performance for the Rebels.

Kermit Davis explains why Ole Miss struggled down the stretch

Ole Miss is out of consideration for the NCAA Tournament but still had the opportunity to get an impressive win on Wednesday. Davis led his team out on the road against Auburn, one Bruce Pearl is calling a rivalry. The Rebels were not able to travel back to Oxford with a win, falling 78-74.

Davis was asked why Ole Miss struggled down the stretch, saying there was not too much to it. He thinks both sides just played a great college basketball game. However, he did go on to criticize some of the late-game officiating, saying some calls went in favor of the home team.

“That was just college basketball,” Davis said. “I mean, our best player had two right at the rim — layups — and missed. We guarded the heck out of them. I thought the last call was tough, the blocking call. Calling an illegal screen on us. You can call about 100 of those.

“They made all the free throws down the stretch. We were trying to make both free throws with Matt (Murrell). We missed the first to get it to one… It was a heck of a college game and just two teams playing really hard tonight.”