NASHVILLE — Ole Miss has faced Auburn twice this season.
On Feb. 1, the Rebels were tied in the second half before dropping a 10-point decision to the Tigers in Oxford.
Some three and a half weeks later, Auburn destroyed the Rebels on the Plains, 106-76.
Ole Miss (22-10) will get a third shot at Auburn (27-4) Friday at noon in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals. The Rebels earned the opportunity after winning a wild, dramatic second-round game over Arkansas on Thursday, beating the Razorbacks 83-80 on Sean Pedulla’s 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining.
“I’m super excited,” Ole Miss forward Malik Dia said. “I really want another crack at them. I think we’ve got the team to beat them. We’ve been preparing and I think right now, we’ve been playing really good March basketball. Our coach is strong. It’s going to be a big challenge but I’m ready.”
Pedulla said anytime a team gets an opportunity to play an elite team, it’s a chance to “test yourselves and see where you’re at, especially heading into March.”
“Yeah, they’ve beaten us twice, but I think we can come out with best effort and fix the things we’ve been messing up on in practice and I think we’ll be good,” Pedulla said.
Auburn, the regular-season SEC champion, has lost just four times this season. The Tigers lost at Duke, at home versus Florida, at Texas A&M and then at home five days ago versus archrival Alabama.
After the loss in Oxford to Auburn, Ole Miss coach Chris Beard, in the midst of praising Bruce Pearl’s Tigers, said he wanted his team to have a chance at beating teams like Auburn in March.
And here we are.
“We actually came here to win this tournament,” Beard said. “I know a lot of people don’t understand that. …We’ll obviously have to play our best 40 minutes of the season, but that’s no different than when you get to the NCAA Tournament. You better put your best 40 out there, especially as the rounds continue.
“It’s a 40-minute game. It’s not going to be the better team. It’s going to be the better team that played those 40 minutes. I think we would all agree that Auburn is one of the best teams in the country. I think we would all agree it’s going to be a great challenge for us, but it’s a 40-minute game and that’s what makes March special. We don’t have to better than Auburn. We just have to be better than Auburn for 40 minutes.”
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