Men’s Hoops Looks to Find First SEC Win as Ole Miss Hosts Auburn

OXFORD, Miss. — After dropping a hard-fought rivalry contest to Mississippi State on Saturday, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team returns home seeking to end its four-game losing streak. Suffice it to say, things haven’t gone as planned for the Rebels thus far in league play.

Now, Ole Miss needs to quickly find a turnaround as some must-win games are quickly approaching. Head coach Kermit Davis and the Rebs host Auburn this evening. Ole Miss currently sits at 96th in the NET Rankings (as of Sunday). They are 1-5 against Quad 1 opponents, 0-1 against Quad 2, 3-0 against Quad 3, and 4-1 against Quad 4. The matchup against Auburn would be a Q2 win or a Q1 loss, depending on the outcome.

Before we get into learning about Auburn, let’s look at some other teams with similar resumes as Ole Miss in the NET. This isn’t to show what Ole Miss could be — or even where they should be — but rather to show how getting quality wins can boost a team’s ranking.

Teams can lose a fair amount of these Q1 and Q2 games and still be ranked fairly high within the NET metric. It’s finding a few wins in those Q1 games and winning a healthy amount of Q2 that can get you back on the radar.

Florida (#70) Q1: 0-6, Q2: 0-0, Q3: 4-1, Q4: 4-0

Washington St. (#69) Q1: 1-6, Q2: 1-3, Q3: 2-0, Q4: 3-1

Oklahoma St. (#40) Q1: 1-5, Q2: 1-0, Q3: 2-1, Q4: 5-0

Ole Miss has some must wins ahead of it, post Auburn. Playing UGA at home will be one the Rebels will have to find a way to win, and the same goes with South Carolina on the road. Any more blemishes or potential Q3/Q4 matchups that don’t go Ole Miss’ way will hurt.

Most fans understand there is still a path, but that being said Ole Miss still has to improve upon its current product if it wants to see that come to fruition. The Rebs have the opportunities but need to find the winning recipe. Finding ways to score consistently, nailing down a rotation, and mitigating scoring droughts will be important down the line.

Keys for Ole Miss vs Auburn

1. Finding Points In the Paint

To date, Auburn is 12-3. Despite the Tigers’ strong record, their performance has been inconsistent. Most recently, they recorded a 72-59 win over Arkansas, and before that they lost a game to UGA by 12.

In order to beat Auburn, the Rebels will need to improve on their offensive output this season. Ole Miss is now 1-7 this season when they fail to score 70 points in a contest.

Kermit Davis is still looking to find the right formula but the time to find it is quickly running thin.

So far, the Rebels have faced off against a few teams that are known for their defense. Oklahoma, Memphis, Tennessee, and Mississippi State all have strong defensive identities. The same can be said about Auburn.

Analytically speaking, Auburn may be the toughest defense Ole Miss has faced to date. The Tigers rank in the 98th percentile allowing 0.765 points per possession. Their pressure defense starts out on the perimeter with KD Johnson, Zep Jasper, and Wendell Greene. Then, having an enforcer on the inside like Johni Broome (the SEC’s No. 3-ranked player in blocked shots) gives them a rim protector in the paint.

However, despite Broome’s presence, Auburn’s defense still struggles to defend inside. The Tigers rank in only the 6th percentile in short shots (inside 17 feet).

Head coach Bruce Pearl has used similar concepts to those used by Tony Bennett at Virginia to keep the interior protected, but Ole Miss will have to find a way inside to have success. This could be a key for both Daeshun Ruffin and Amaree Abram. Ruffin’s craft could be huge if he can find ways to knife to the paint, setting up others or finding his own shot. Abram also has a downhill style to break through the line but has been inconsistent with minutes.

2. Defend The Paint

We love a good transition and here goes. Ole Miss needs to do everything it can to find ways to score inside the three-point line and especially around the rim. Defensively, the Rebels need to everything they can to keep Auburn outside of the paint.

When Memphis beat Auburn earlier in the year, Penny Hardaway’s team made it a point of emphasis to limit Auburn’s offensive rebounds. In the first half of that game, they allowed Auburn to record only one.  When Georgia defeated Auburn recently, the Bulldogs got an early rebounding advantage en route to winning the margin for the game.

Ole Miss needs to do the same. Broome has a rebounding percentage that sits at 19.3%. The Tigers’ other big forward, Dylan Cardwell, has a rebounding percentage at 16.4%. Whichever team can find its way to offensive boards could go a long way toward winning the game.

The Tigers are 19th in the nation in offensive rebounding while being in the top-50 for offensive rebounds given up.

This also goes for limiting the Tigers’ offense. Broome has now scored in double figures in nine straight games. He leads the Tigers in scoring at 12.9 points per game. It’s more than just Broome, though.

Auburn still has the pesky trio of guards that Ole Miss fans know oh so well: KD Johnson, Zep Jasper, and Wendell Greene. The Rebels need to keep the Tigers away from the paint. Similar to Ole Miss, Auburn has also struggled mightily to shoot the three. The Tigers are at just above at 29% clip from three-point range.

Game info: 

Ole Miss and Auburn tip off at 8:00 p.m. (CT) in the SJB Pavilion in Oxford. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

(Feature image credit: Kiana Dale, Ole Miss Athletics)