Auburn University’s men’s basketball team is preparing to host Ole Miss at Neville Arena on Saturday, aiming for an 11th consecutive win in the series. Head coach Steven Pearl has called on fans to maintain their strong support as the Tigers face two important home games in four days.
“Our fans have been unbelievable all year, our students have been unbelievable all year,” Pearl said Friday. “It would be incredibly appreciated if that place was full in both games, as it has all year. We understand the importance of both games, especially this one on Saturday.
“Our guys feed off the energy and the environment. It helps them perform and it was a big reason why we were able to beat Kentucky last Saturday. I would encourage all our fans, as they’ve done all year, to continue to show up, be loud and give our guys the juice they need to beat a really good Ole Miss team.”
Ole Miss enters the game with a 10-game losing streak but has recorded road wins at Georgia and Mississippi State this season. “They’re in every single game,” Pearl said. “They’ve won in two environments that we weren’t able to this year. They’re very capable.”
After Auburn’s recent loss at Oklahoma, Pearl described a productive film session followed by what he considered one of Auburn’s best practices of the season.
“To have hope with a team like this, after everything we’ve been through, is huge. That’s all you can ask for at this point,” said Kevin Overton, who scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds while playing all 40 minutes against Oklahoma. “It’s not about talking about it. It’s about literally giving your all to the job that needs to be done. We’ve let a lot of opportunities slip and we can’t allow that to happen anymore.”
Pearl reviewed footage from Auburn’s earlier victory over Ole Miss—a 78-66 win on Jan. 20—which began Ole Miss’s current losing streak.
“We were connected, we were playing with a purpose, we were flying around and we were playing desperate,” Pearl said about that performance. “For us to beat anyone in this league, that’s how we have to play for 40 minutes. I thought we did that against Kentucky.
“You can’t beat anyone in our league if you don’t play with great effort and energy. It was good for them to see, and they practiced that way yesterday.”
Auburn (15-13 overall; 6-9 SEC) will meet Ole Miss (11-17 overall; 3-12 SEC) at 7:30 p.m., with coverage available on SEC Network and Auburn Sports Network.
“Everyone understands the urgency that’s needed over these next two weeks,” Pearl added. “Take advantage of it. We’ve put ourselves in position to be in position. We’ve got to go win some games now. That’s on us as a coaching staff and as a team to perform and finish this thing off the right way.”
In their previous matchup this season—where KeShawn Murphy posted 16 points and tied his career high with 14 rebounds—Auburn had its highest totals for free throws made (32) and attempted (39). The Tigers are among national leaders in both categories: second nationally for free throws attempted per game (27.7) and third for free throws made per game (20.7). Meanwhile, Ole Miss ranks near the bottom nationally in fouls per game.
AJ Storr leads Ole Miss off the bench with an average of 14.7 points per game; his contributions help make Ole Miss one of the top teams nationally for bench scoring.
Auburn currently holds an edge over most programs regarding schedule difficulty—they lead Division I basketball with the nation’s toughest strength of schedule—and have played more Quad 1 games than any other program so far this season.
