NCAA Basketball: Best games from 2019-20 season – Auburn vs. Ole Miss

The SEC matchup between Auburn and Ole Miss became quite an exciting game; let’s look at what happened.

There was excitement throughout the most recent college basketball season, even if the national pandemic canceled the NCAA Tournament and much of the postseason. We still got all of conference play, and there were plenty of great games between bitter rivals. For our next focus in our top 40 games of the 2019-20 season, we look at an SEC matchup that delivered far more than expected.

22. #17 Auburn 83, Mississippi 82, 2 OT

January 28, 2020, The Pavilion in Oxford, MS

Conference play is always filled with exciting games, matchups and moments, both expected and unexpected. In recent years, the level of play in the SEC has greatly heightened, which has led to some even more intense basketball in conference play. Even though Kentucky would win another regular season title, there was still some great competition from the rest of the league, including these two teams.

Auburn lost a ton of incredible talent from a squad that made the Final Four. However, they still had quite a decent slate of talent left, with seniors like Samir Doughty and J’Von McCormick joined by highly touted freshman Isaac Okoro. Auburn had blitzed out to a 15-0 start before dropping a pair of SEC road games a few weeks earlier; though they were facing a similar road challenge in Oxford.

For Ole Miss, a team expected to finish in the middle of the pack in the SEC, the season had gotten off to a less than succesfful start. They had lost a handful of games in nonconference play before dropping their first five SEC contests. Their home date with Auburn had been preceded by a road win at Georgia, finally getting them off the snide. Breein Tyree had played a starring role in recent weeks for the Rebels and they would need heroics from everyone to topple their ranked foe.

Initially, this looked like a dream come true for the Rebels. Austin Wiley put Auburn on the board first, but then the Tigers offense completely came unglued. With turnovers and missed shots, the Tigers offense went nine minutes without a field goal while Ole Miss played methodical ball. With a 15-0 run in there, Ole Miss had built a 17-3 lead halfway through the opening period.

Needing to dig themselves out of the hole, Auburn’s offense finally started hitting a few of their shots, but the defense wasn’t doing them enough favors. Neither side of the basketball was working well for Auburn as the deficit grew larger and larger in the closing minutes of the first half. A 3-pointer from Blake Hinson gave Ole Miss an 18-point lead, though the Tigers managed to limit it to just a 17 point advantage at the half.

The Rebels made the lead 19 points quickly into the second half, but Auburn wasn’t ready to fold. The Tigers got 3-pointers from both Okoro and Anfernee McLemore in a 10-0 that cut the lead in half. It wouldn’t be that easy, as a pair of 3-pointers from Blake Hinson built the lead back to 18 points just a few minutes later. However, McLemore hit two more long range shots, fueling a 12-0 run that got the Tigers within 5 points again.

These long Auburn runs had gotten them back into the game, but they weren’t over the hump yet. The Rebels offense continued to battle, and still held a 10-point lead with just over five minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the home team, their offense vanished down the stretch. The Rebels did not make a basket in the final five minutes, as Auburn stormed all the way back to take the lead in the final minute. Devontae Shuler hit a pair of free throws to tie the game and send it to overtime.

In the overtime, Auburn built a 5-point lead off 3-pointers from Purifoy and McLemore, but the Rebels had fight in them as well. Despite that 5-point lead still holding in the final minute, Shuler scored the last five points of the overtime period, including three more clutch free throws. Both teams bungle a shot for the win and we plowed on towards double overtime.

This time, the Rebels built the early advantage, leading by four on a pair of shots by KJ Buffen, but it was Auburn who had the answer. Okoro’s basket and free throw with just under two minutes left turned out to be the decided score as the Tigers held on to win by 1. Neither team managed anything offensively in the final minute, though the Rebels had several chances to take back the lead.

Shuler led all scorers with 26 points for the Rebels, who needed all of his points to even get this game to that second bonus period, but it just wasn’t enough as they blew that huge first half lead. Doughty (17 points) and McCormick (12 points) both played 45 minutes for Auburn, while McLemore’s five 3-pointers  and team-leading 19 points were all needed in the comeback win.

After the win, things would get better for Auburn, who would knock off Kentucky and LSU at home in the coming weeks. They’d drop a few questionable games down the stretch, but still finishing in 2nd place in the SEC, spending the entire season in the top 25. They might not have had the same potent lineup as last season, but this was a team that still could’ve gone on a run in the postseason.

Disappointment lingered for the Rebels, who missed a great opportunity for an uplifting win. They’d eventually finish 12th in the SEC, falling to Georgia in the first round of the SEC Tournament. The season certainly didn’t progress as the Rebels had hoped. The 17-point halftime lead they blew to Auburn in this double overtime loss was certainly a part of that collapse, but it certainly was one of the finest basketball games of the season.