Holloway sparks comeback win against Auburn

For the second time this season, the Ole Miss Rebels struggled offensively against the Auburn Tigers. In their first meeting, the Rebels made a second half comeback only to fall short in a double-overtime thriller. Murphy Holloway wouldn’t let that happen again on Saturday.

An Auburn 3-pointer gave the Tigers an 11-point lead with 15:29 left in the game. The next five minutes belonged to Holloway as he scored the game’s next 12 points to give the Rebels a 40-39 lead with 11:22 to play, their first lead since 11-10 early in the first half.

“We were challenging guys,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “Somebody had to step up. That’s the best Murphy has played in a while. He’s been unlike himself in the last couple of games as far as production. He made some huge plays.” 

Holloway recorded his eighth double-double of the season, the 22nd of his career, with game highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds.

“(Kennedy) just told me, they follow you,” Holloway said. “Just lead by example. Everybody was sitting back, waiting on somebody. I just took the ownership and tried to lead the team.” 

After a sluggish first half, Ole Miss went into halftime down 31-24 while going 34.8 percent (8-for-23) from the field and just 5-12 from the free throw line. Ole Miss heated up in the second half, shooting 53.8 percent (14-for-26) from the field and 8-13 from the free throw line.

The final minutes of the game went back and forth. Auburn tied the game at 51 with 2:58 to play. After trading turnovers, Jarvis Summers got a steal and layup in transition to give Ole Miss a 53-51 lead, and the Rebels would never relinquish the lead.

“I knew they would run that play, so I said I would overplay it,” Summers said. “I took a chance on a steal, and he passed the ball and I made a play. I timed it real good.”

Down three with 40 seconds left, Auburn drove the lane for a lay-up attempt, but Reginald Buckner stepped over and swatted the ball away. Holloway recovered the loose ball and found an open Nick Williams ahead for a fast-break layup to take the lead out to 59-54 with 35 seconds to play.

“That’s what he does,” Kennedy said of Buckner, who now has 215 career blocks, a school record and is ranked 19th in Southeastern Conference history. “That’s the reason he’s in the game. He has a lot of value to this team defensively.”

Ole Miss improves to 15-9 overall and 5-5 in SEC play while Auburn drops to 13-12 and 3-8 in SEC play.

Williams and Summers joined Holloway in double figures in scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Rebels. Buckner scored five points to go along with six rebounds and four blocked shots.