AUBURN, Alabama — Although Auburn hasn’t lost a basketball game since November, coach Bruce Pearl said his Tigers had several areas they could improve ahead of Saturday’s Southeastern Conference road game against Ole Miss.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST at the Oxford Pavilion with television coverage on the SEC Network.
“We always struggled at Ole Miss,” said Pearl, who is 4-9 as Auburn’s head coach in games against the Rebels. “They did a great job protecting us. We need to do, and are still trying to do, a better job of executing our half-court offense, reducing our turnovers and mixing fastbreak, tempo and freedom with good shots and valuing possessions.
“On the defensive side, keep our effort and energy going,” he added as another key to success against the Rebels. “We won the last game against Alabama because of our defense…not giving them second chance points. Those were the things we were able to count on throughout the period and that’s what what you have to do when you play against very good teams.
Ole Miss brings a 9-6 record and a 1-2 mark to the contest after losing 67-51 at Texas A&M on Tuesday. The Tigers are 15-1 overall and 4-0 in the SEC after an 81-77 win at Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night.
Auburn is 4-0 in road games this season. Ole Miss is 8-1 in home games.
The Tigers and Rebels are playing a home and away series again this year with Ole Miss set to be at Auburn Arena on Feb. 23 where the Rebels beat the Tigers 86-84 in overtime in the last meeting. In last year’s game at Oxford, the Rebels won 72-61.
Auburn continues to lead the nation in blocked shots averaging 8.3 per game. UConn, the only team to defeat the Tigers this season, is ranked second with 6.6 per game.
The Tigers blocked 11 shots against Alabama despite Walker Kesler not be credited with it. Kessler leads the SEC and is fourth nationally in blocks at 4.0 per contest. He only played 13 minutes against Alabama after having early foul trouble and then committing his fifth foul in the second half. Kessler also had foul trouble in the previous game against Florida.
“The last two games that Walker has been fouled, Dylan (Cardwell) has been tremendous,” Pearl said. “Jabari Smith said after the Alabama game that Dylan Cardwell was our most important player on the field because he played such good defense, made so many saves and stepped up when Walker was at fault, so it has to be a next man mentality.
With the SEC’s policy of reprimanding and fining coaches who criticize officiating, Pearl danced around a question about Kessler being whistled for fouls that didn’t appear to be fouls.
“Obviously when you look at Walker, he’s one of the best defensive players in the league because he’s one of the best shot blockers in the country,” the coach said. “The game plan would be to try to attack him and get him in trouble so they go after him. And, verticality is verticality, and hopefully he can continue to be vertical. They’re going to keep shooting at him and he’s going to keep being vertical and blocking shots. I can’t say much more.
Pearl noted that Kessler and Cardwell will face a solid post player Ole Miss, 7-0, 245 Nysier Brooks, a Miami graduate transfer. He is averaging 9.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and has blocked 19 shots.
“He’s an exceptional defender, he moves very well for a seven-foot man,” Pearl said. “He understands the defensive concepts, he has been well trained and therefore he is good in defense against the ball. He’s good in defense after, he’s good at getting off ball screens and getting to the edge – putting a lot of pressure on the edge.
“He’s so big they can throw it at him and our big guys like to hit the ball screens so we have to account for him and those shooters in the corners which makes it difficult because he’s such a big target “Added Pearl of a player who began his college playing days in Cincinnati. “He gets his own really well and they have guys that can get down and you get out of those guards and he cleans everything in the back kind of like a Dylan or Walker Kesler made for us. He is a handful.
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