Ole Miss won another road game. Saturday's victim was the Auburn Tigers. A raucous crowd of Auburn faithful caught up in this growing rivalry wanted to see Rebel blood, but they left disappointed as Ole Miss cruised to the 86-79 win thanks to the unflappable play of LaDarius White, Jarvis Summers and Stefan Moody and what shall become known as Death by Free Throw.
Ole Miss, the nation's top free throw shooting team, went 10 of 12 from the line over the final 1:28 to keep the Tigers at bay. Moody fouled out on Shamsid-Deen's 3-point attempt with 58 seconds left. The Auburn guard made all three free throw attempts to make it 81-76 but the Rebels kept making their free throws.
"We've been in hostile environments and we've had success," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "The guys believe they can win. They actually feed off the energy. I thought we were really locked in the second half."
The Rebels, already considered a 10-seed in Joe Lunardi's most recent bracket, continued to build on their NCAA Tournament resume.
"One of the things that makes Ole Miss is a contender is that they don't drop off when they go to the bench," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.
One look at the box score proves Pearl's point.
Anthony Perez (10 points) and White (20 points) combined for 30 points off the bench. Starters Summers (13) and Moody (15) paced the Rebels with 28 more.
Ole Miss shot 57 percent from the field.
It was more than Auburn could overcome.
Ole Miss improved to 16-7 (7-3 SEC) and has won five in a row.
The next road game comes Thursday at Florida (6 p.m., ESPN2).