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Ole Miss Basketball: Rebels Hoops Travel Down On The Plains Tonight

By Daniel Skipper

DAYTON, OH - MARCH 17: Head coach Andy Kennedy of the Mississippi Rebels reacts against the Brigham Young Cougars during the first round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 17, 2015 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OH - MARCH 17: Head coach Andy Kennedy of the Mississippi Rebels reacts against the Brigham Young Cougars during the first round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 17, 2015 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Ole Miss basketball is sitting at 2-1 in the SEC after wins over South Carolina and Miss State. Now the Rebels travel down on the plains to take on No.22 Auburn.

For now coach Andy Kennedy has Ole Miss basketball sitting in a pretty good spot at 2-1 in the SEC with big wins over South Carolina and Miss State. Of course, both of those wins came at home with their one SEC loss coming on the road at Georgia. Ole Miss (9-6, 2-1) has had a tough time on the road this season and it doesn’t get any easy tonight as they travel to take on Auburn (14-1, 2-0).

Tonight’s match-up will be a tough test for the Rebels. Auburn is 8-0 at home this season and will have a tough crowd for the Rebels to deal with. Auburn is riding a 12 game winning streak which has seen wins over Indiana State, Dayton and Middle Tennessee. Of course, most recently the Tigers are coming off back-to-back wins over No.23 Tennessee and No.22 Arkansas.

Looking At Auburn

Ole Miss Rebels Basketball
Ole Miss Rebels Basketball /

Ole Miss Rebels Basketball

When you look at the Auburn Tigers you immediately see their record and have to assume they are a great team. Of course, they have a RPI ranking of 14 and a SOS of 66. They are obviously a very strong team and this could be the best Bruce Pearl coached team we’ve ever seen.

This Auburn Tigers team is a very physical and fundamentally sound basketball team. Also the Tigers also have some very talented players who play solid every game at both ends of the court.

They have a number of great  shooters and as a team have a .459 field-goal percentage. They shoot incredibly well from the arc with .377 percent of their 3-point attempts finding net. Of course, they are also a solid shooting team when they go to the line shooting .778.

The Tigers have four players averaging double digits in scoring, Their most consistent scorer Mustapha Heron is averaging 15.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and an assist per game. Bryce Brown is averaging 15.7 points per game while Jared Harper and Desean Murray average 12.7 and 10.9 respectively.

What To Expect

With a well coached Bruce Pearl team we can expect a heavy dose of post up and action in the paint. They will try to force Ole Miss basketball into foul trouble early to take the Rebels big men out of the game. It is important Ole Miss make smart decisions down low. Auburn is a fast and  physical team who draw a lot of fouls. They also shoot very well from the free-throw line. Of course this could be the deciding factor in tonight’s contest.

From Andy Kennedy and the Rebels they have to play smart and consistent to win this game. This is a game where I believe we see the Rebels drive the lane more and use Auburn’s game against them. Sure we all want to see 3-point shots but they are only fun to watch when the Rebels are actually hitting theirs. The Rebels can’t afford to waste shots from the perimeter when they can go to the basket. We saw it work against Miss State so will we see it tonight?

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Of course, we don’t have to wait long to find out just how good this game could be for either team. Andy Kennedy and Ole Miss basketball will be trying for its 11th straight win over the Auburn Tigers tonight. Tip off from Auburn Arena is set for 8pm CT and the game can be seen on ESPNU. Good luck to the Rebels and Hotty Toddy!

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