Auburn basketball suffered a crushing Quad III home loss Saturday night, falling 85-79 to Ole Miss at Neville Arena and pushing its NCAA Tournament hopes to the brink.
Despite 45 combined points from Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall, Ole Miss buried 10 3-pointers to snap a 10-game losing streak – one that began with Auburn on January 17 – and earn its first win over the Tigers in 10 meetings.
“Really disappointed. I apologize to our fans who have been so phenomenal all year,” said Auburn head coach Steven Pearl. “They deserve better from us.”
Pettiford poured in 24 points on a 10-of-16 clip from the field while Hall added 21 points with a 9-of-10 mark from the charity stripe. Elyjah Freeman scored 15 points with six rebounds, and Kevin Overton added 10 points.
But Auburn committed 14 turnovers that turned into 18 Ole Miss points, marking the third-most in conference play this season and the third consecutive game of double-digit turnovers for the Tigers.
Auburn trailed 38-37 at the break, but used a pair of triples from Overton and Freeman and a 3-point play from Pettiford to take an 8-point lead with just over 17 minutes remaining.
“We had an opportunity to extend the lead, and both times we had empty possessions offensively,” Pearl said. “They took advantage of it.”
Ole Miss took control over the next 10 minutes, hitting four 3-pointers and outscoring Auburn 27-7 to take a 12-point lead with 7:32 remaining.
Auburn rallied back to trim its deficit to two at the 3:20 mark, but Ole Miss took advantage of defensive miscues from the Tigers and netted nine free throws over the final two minutes to hand Auburn its 14th loss of the season.
Patton Pinkins and AJ Storr scored 26 apiece for the Rebels.
In the first half, Ole Miss made five early threes — entering with 7.25 per game — as Auburn started 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.
“It’s a team that makes four 3s a game, and they make 10,” Pearl said. “They made shots early, and that gives them confidence throughout the rest of the game.”
Auburn remains at home Tuesday with a matchup versus LSU at 9 p.m. CT on SEC Network. TG
