Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Plays Host to the Auburn Tigers

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss men’s basketball team returns home to the SJB Pavilion as they welcome in the Auburn Tigers. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and can be watched on ESPNU.

Ole Miss (8-7, 0-3 SEC) looks to rebound after a 64-54 loss to in-state rival Mississippi State on the road Saturday. The Rebels were led in scoring by Mathew Murrrel with 19 points against the Bulldogs.

This season, Murrell is shooting an impressive 87.2% (41-47) from the free throw line which is tops in the SEC and ranks 49th in the country.

On the boards, the Rebels average of 13.0 offensive rebounds per game.

Auburn opened the 2022-23 season with eight-straight victories before dropping an 82-73 game against Memphis on Dec. 10th in Atlanta. Following a win over Georgia State, the Tigers fell to USC out in Los Angeles 74-71 before heading north and taking down Washington in Seattle 84-61. In their first three SEC games, Auburn has defeated Florida 61-58, fallen to Georgia 76-64, and recently took down No. 13 Arkansas 72-59. They sit in fifth place in the current conference standings with a 2-1 SEC record and 12-3 overall mark.

One of the top rebounders in the nation, Johni Broome leads Auburn at 12.9 points per game while grabbing 8.8 boards per contest. In each of the Tigers’ three SEC games, Broome has recorded a double-double and has four on the year. He also helps lead one of the best defenses in the country, as Broome ranks seventh in the country at 2.8 blocks per game.

The Auburn defense ranks 38th in the NCAA in scoring defense, while averaging the second-most blocks per game in the country (6.6 per game). The Tigers are just as suffocating on the permitter as well, as they rank fourth in the country in three-point field goal percentage defense, holding their opponents to a 26.1 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

Tuesday’s matchup will be the 144th meeting between Auburn and Ole Miss takes place nearly 100 years after the two programs first met on February 10, 1928, when the Rebels won a 43-42 game in Alabama. When playing at home in Oxford, Ole Miss leads the series 43-26, including a 7-3 record in the last 10 games played in Mississippi.