The No. 11 Auburn Tigers cruised to its 11th straight win on Saturday by taking care of No. 21 Ole Miss, 82-59 in front of a rowdy crowd at Neville Arena.
Auburn’s defense played a key role in the win, as they limited Ole Miss, who has four players with double-digit scoring averages, to shoot just 36.8% from the field. Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said in his postgame press conference that he credits unselfish play for the great defensive performance.
“They were locked in. I think they are beginning to enjoy the fact that they have the ability to make it difficult on the opponent and they’re creating some offense from their defense. I get it, it goes back to being unselfish. You realize the effort that it takes to be in the right spot at the right time. To do the things that they have to do to be able to, you know, sit down and guard. Matthew Murrell averaged 24 against us last year. Averaged. He shot two free throws tonight and he shot like 22 last year in two games. The defense can carry us if we can continue to do this. Obviously, our mind is set. We know where we have to go on Wednesday. We understand what an unbelievably tough cover Alabama is. It’s going to be important and we know how physical and athletic, and how hard, Mississippi State plays.”
From an analytics standpoint, how did Saturday’s win over Ole Miss affect Auburn’s position in the latest KenPom ranking? Here’s a look at where the Tigers stand following Saturday’s action.