No. 13 Auburn routs No. 22 Ole Miss 82-59 to remain only SEC team without league loss

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This article was published 20/01/2024 (971 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn and Mississippi played 145 times before meeting when both were ranked.

It ended up being a mismatch.

No. 13 Auburn ran away with its 11th straight win Saturday night in an 82-59 rout of the No. 22 Rebels, the longest active streak among Power Five teams.

The Tigers (16-2, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) remained the only SEC team without a league loss after No. 6 Tennessee beat Alabama 91-71 earlier Saturday. They turned the first Top-25 matchup in the 146-game series — and their first game against a ranked team since an opening loss to Baylor — into a rout by halftime.

“(Auburn players) were asking me, ‘Coach, are you impressed yet?” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said. “I really haven’t been. Part of it is we just haven’t played that many ranked teams. But Ole Miss comes in ranked, and they’re a good team that are really well coached.

“To play that well and control the game like we did was impressive.”

Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome both had 13 points for Auburn. Williams made 5 of 7 shots and the Tigers led by as many as 35. Dylan Cardwell matched his career high with 12 points.

The 6-foot-10 Broome even banked in a 3-pointer midway through the second half, shrugging as he headed back to the other end.

The Rebels (15-3, 2-3) had a season-low in points. Their top four scorers, including Matthew Murrell and former Auburn player Allen Flanigan, all struggled.

“We realized if we wanted to win that game, it starts with those four first,” Cardwell said.

Booed whenever he touched the ball, Flanigan led Ole Miss with 10 points in his return to a school where he spent four seasons and got a degree before transferring. He was scoreless for the opening 17 minutes, missing his first four shots. The top four scorers this season were a combined 12-of-34 shooting.

Murrell finished with eight points, nine below his season average. No. 3 scorer Jaylen Murray had eight points and Jaemyn Brakefield scored seven.

“I don’t think their defense gets enough attention,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “They’re really hard to score against.

“We came to Ole Miss with a lot of objectives and that’s to play meaningful games in March. And to get there, you’ve got to play some meaningful games in January and February.”

Beard said nerves weren’t an issue for Flanigan, whose father Wes is a former Auburn player and assistant coach who joined the Ole Miss staff.

“The Flanigan family is a lot of things, and nervous isn’t one of them,” Beard said. “Allen Flanigan was not nervous tonight.”

Auburn took its biggest lead of the first half on Chad Baker-Mazara’s jumper with 11 seconds left to go up 46-27. The Tigers pushed it to 31 in the second half with a 14-0 run.

No Auburn player played more than 22 minutes in the game and Tigers reserves blocked three shots in the final five seconds.

BIG PICTURE

Ole Miss: Went 0-2 this week after re-entering the Top 25. Its previous season scoring low was 64 points in a loss to Tennessee.

Auburn: Has won nine of its last 10 home games against ranked teams and is 7-1 in Top 25 matchups at Neville Arena, which opened in 2010. The Tigers are averaging a 22-point margin during the winning streak.

UP NEXT

Ole Miss hosts Arkansas on Wednesday night.

Auburn visits rival Alabama on Wednesday night.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball