Postgame Quotes vs. Auburn

OLE MISS HEAD COACH KERMIT DAVIS

Opening statement…
"Great college game. Obviously, I want to thank the students. That was the most students that have ever been in The Pavilion, over 2,000. Thanks to every one of them, they made the crowd fun. The crowd had great passion. They tried to will us to win. The first half we played very well. The second half, Breein (Tyree) came out because he couldn't guard. He didn't have any energy so I took him out twice. Sometimes the basketball gods catch up with you. I thought the guys fought it. We couldn't guard the dribble without fouling. A lot of and-ones for them. We got the game right, and we couldn't rebound. (Anfernee) McLemore hits five threes. He had never done that. Give hats off to Auburn. They made a great comeback. Just disappointed with our team."

On the differences between the halves guarding the dribble…
"We did a better job (in the first half). I have to watch the tape just to see. I'm not sure. They played downhill, and we didn't have as much rim protection and verticality plays at the end. Even with that, we have to keep running offense, keep playing. We started settling I thought."

On the offense without Breein Tyree…
The basketball gods have a great way to work. He got a couple of touch fouls, and he was out of the game. I'd have to go look at the tape to see different possessions and what happened. I think Blake (Hinson) maybe settled some. Just a number of things."

On other players stepping up…
"It was great to see Devontae (Shuler). He plays great against Auburn all of the time. I thought Khadim (Sy) competed his tail off. We are a different defensive team when he is in the game because of his length. I thought KJ (Buffen) and Blake (Hinson) fought. I thought Bryce (Williams) tried but had too many turnovers. Our bench is a little thin, but we had four guys in double figures and one of them wasn't Breein Tyree. So that is a positive in a loss."

On guarding without fouling in the first half…
"They are one of the most right-handed driving teams in college basketball. I guess we squared up better in the first half. I don't know, I have to go back and watch the tape and see."

On the chance of a Quadrant 1 win tonight…
"Our team is getting better, no question about that. We don't feel like we're a 1-6 team (in the SEC). We've got to do the things at the end of games to win. We've been right there in the middle of some games and could've been 4-2 (right now). That's just college basketball. We've got to keep fighting. We've got another opportunity on Saturday. That's all you can do is go down there and play. I thought our game plan was right, those guys executed it. Give Auburn credit. Those guys wore us down; we got guys that fouled out. When you lose Breein Tyree for the last 15 minutes of the game, that's hard for our team."

On KJ Buffen and Devontae Shuler scoring down the stretch…
"We took advantage of KJ at the five, and we had mismatches there. He did a good job with isolation stuff that we ran at the end. I thought KJ really competed. Devontae drove the ball because you can't settle in any of these games. You've got to drive it. We just settled a few times."

AUBURN HEAD COACH BRUCE PEARL

Opening statement...
"That was about the craziest college game I've seen in a long time. Both teams battled, played so hard. We didn't always play well. Kermit had them ready like he always does."

On the flow of the game…
"When it came to execution of our game plan versus their game plan, Kermit did a phenomenal job. However, that is where you build character and we are a high character team who did not quit. We specifically ran a press on them that kind of sped them up on a lead, and forced them to take shots that Kermit probably didn't want them taking. It was really effective once Tyree fouled out. We hadn't shown it all season, but our coaches put it in and practiced it this week thinking it would be helpful. They did a great job of turning us over, we had 12 turnovers from our point guards. We have to do a better job with that."

On the series with Ole Miss in recent years…
"We had lost nine of the last 10 to Ole Miss at their place, and tonight we were able to pull off the third-largest comeback in school history. It's been a tough place for us."

On the depth shown tonight…
"We had a lot of guys contribute. Anfernee McLemore in particular had stretches of brilliance where he was able to pick and pop really well. We were a much better team with him on the floor. When he plays we have a stretch five out there and we become a completely different team that's really hard to guard. When Austin (Wiley) is in there, we can't take advantage of him inside and he doesn't give us an advantage on the perimeter and so there in lies why we were better offensively. Austin did not take advantage of things himself, we couldn't get it to him, sometimes he didn't finish, but he did get to the foul line six or eight times."

On Isaac Okoro play down the stretch in OT...
"He's really good, he's hard to stay in front of and he's really hard not to foul. We drove it downhill through contact and there was no doubt he was getting it."

On limiting Breein Tyree offensively…
"We have played 20 games, this is the 20th time we have held our opponent's leading scorer under their season average. Samir Doughty, Isaac Okoro are really good defenders. When he went out, that's when our press came into work, we forced them to take some shots that Kermit would not have preferred. I think it was that press that we employed, it was sort of feast or famine, if they would have made those shots, lead would've grown, but they missed them and we got all the rebounds."

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Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

Devontae Shuler

Breein Tyree

The University of Mississippi Athletics