Chris Beard Points to Ole Miss Basketball's 'Non-Existent' Defense in Auburn Loss

Ole Miss basketball suffered it's biggest loss of the season on Wednesday, falling to No. 1 Auburn 106-76 in Auburn.

The previous largest margin of loss for the Rebels was 17 points in a loss to rival Memphis back on Dec. 28. Ole Miss fell behind by as much as 20 points in the first half, but rallied to cut the lead to 10 points going into the intermission. Auburn, however, would break the game back open and keep its foot on the gas the entire second half.

"If you had told me before the game we would get to 80 something points, shoot close to 50% (from the floor), make some threes right around mid-30s, (mid 30%) get to the free throw line more, or equal to Auburn, and take care of the ball with 10 or less turnovers, I wouldn't have predicted we'd have won the game, but I'd have predicted we'd have a chance to win the game," said Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard in an interview postgame.

"I think you give Auburn credit," Beard said. "They're very, very difficult to guard when they're making shots."

Despite a blistering hot shooting night from the Tigers, Beard places some of the blame for the final result on his team's defense, a part of his program that is usually a strength.

"Our defense was non-existent, and a lot of it had to to with Auburn. Really difficult to guard, they come at you in waves, with depth," Beard said. "That was the tale of the game from our perspective. I thought offensively we gave ourselves a chance, but defensively, we just didn't have a defense tonight."

The Rebels put on a solid offensive performance, shooting 47.1% from the floor, and 35.7% from three-point range, but poor defensive play and a lack of aggression is what did the Rebels in. Auburn is ranked as the fifth-best scoring offense in the NCAA and second in the SEC. The Tigers shot 59.6% from the floor, and 52.4% from three-point range, red-hot numbers for any game, but even more so for late-February SEC basketball.

The Rebels have now lost three straight games and have fallen from not only the AP poll, but have also slid in NCAA Tournament projections. With three games left in the regular season (and two of those matchups against top-10 teams), the Rebels will need to bounce back in a big way to close out the campaign.

The Rebels return home to take on Oklahoma this Saturday. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.

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