WATCH: Road remains treacherous for Ole Miss basketball, but Beard still filled with belief
Ole Miss basketball has had three chances at a meaningful SEC road win so far this season.
The Rebels didn’t come close in any of them. Actually, twice they were run out of the gym, including on Saturday at Auburn. The Tigers, in a matchup of Top 25 teams, were nearly up 20 at halftime and cruised to their 16th win. They’re 5-0 in the SEC and have just one loss all year.
Ole Miss fell to 15-3 (2-3) and next returns home to host Arkansas on Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Rebels entered play No. 22 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll. Auburn, which has now won seven of the last 11 in the series, was No. 11.
Ole Miss had a season-high 17 turnovers.
“We came to Ole Miss with a lot of objectives,” Ole Miss first-year head coach Chris Beard said afterwards. “One is to play in meaningful games in March. To get there, you have to play some meaningful games in January and February. I thought we made our part of the bargain in terms of having two Top 25 teams playing here. Somebody told me today it might have been the first time Ole Miss ever played Auburn with both teams ranked.
“So, a lot of good going on in our program as we build this thing Year 1. Obviously we didn’t take care of our end of the bargain today to make it a Top 25 game, but I would give Auburn the credit for that. They’re very difficult to score against. Season-high in turnovers tonight, and a lot of that was because of Auburn’s good play. Still got a lot of belief in our guys.”
Bruce Pearl urges Auburn fans to treat Allen Flanigan well in return
The night was particularly forgettable for former Auburn guard/wing Allen Flanigan.
Flanigan transferred to Ole Miss in the off-season for his final college season. He followed his father, Wes, who reunited with Beard as an Ole Miss assistant on staff, hired away from Bruce Pearl and Auburn in the spring.
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Allen Flanigan came in as the only player in the SEC ranked in the Top 10 in the league in both rebounds (an Ole-Miss-leading 7.0 per game) and scoring. His 16.5 points per game placed Flanigan second among all Rebels. However, he finished with just 10 points and four rebounds. He was the only Rebel to score double-digit points, but he made just 3 of 10 shots and missed his only three.
Star Rebel guard Matthew Murrell had just eight points on 3 for 8 (0 for 2 from three) shooting from the field.
“I believe we can play and win games like this,” Beard said. “We just have to get back to the drawing board.”
