SEC Tournament Observations: Auburn 79, Mississippi State 61

The Tigers started well and finished even better, flipping the result from one of their worst losses of the season to stay in the postseason.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — KeShawn Murphy couldn’t wait to show his old team that things were going to be different this time around.

Murphy won the opening tip, and Auburn started its SEC Tournament opener against Mississippi State with a well-designed set. Keyshawn Hall set a down screen in the right corner for Elyjah Freeman, who curled to the top to receive the pass from Tahaad Pettiford. Then Pettiford made a shallow cross-court cut, while Overton ran the baseline from left to right, creating early movement all across the floor.

As Freeman caught it, Murphy lifted to set a ball screen. With Quincy Ballard showing on the screen, Murphy was free to dive to the rim. Freeman kicked the ball to Kevin Overton on the right wing, who quickly found Murphy rolling to the rim after a final back screen from Hall completed the Spain action. With both corners empty and no clear tag defender, Murphy was left alone for an uncontested finish.

On the defensive end, Murphy forced a miss against Mississippi State star Josh Hubbard — who had 46 points and 10 3-pointers in the first matchup against Auburn — secured the rebound and passed to Pettiford before trailing the play up the floor.

Auburn flowed into its tried-and-true clear-side ball screen secondary action, which is increasingly functioning more as a primary look early in possessions. Pettiford cleared Hall out of the right side and took the middle ball screen from Murphy. Murphy slipped the screen and short-rolled into the vacant right side, settling just outside the second notch of the right lane line.

With space to operate, he squared up against Ballard, gave a quick jab, and rose confidently for a mid-range jumper over the top — knocking it down for two more quick points within the first minute of the game.

The third set was an even older Auburn staple. Murphy set the Flex screen on the right wing for Freeman and popped behind the arc, receiving the long pass from Hall.

Even more quickly and confidently, he saw Ballard conceding space with his hands down. Murphy rose and fired a triple that rattles in right in front of his former bench.

Murphy had matched his point production from the first meeting just 1:48 into the rematch at the first round of the SEC Tournament.

After getting an earful in Starkville, he understandably had a few things to say — and he earned a technical foul for it. It was his second whistle in a short amount of time, as he had been called for a foul on the previous defensive possession for Auburn.

“I was frustrated, because I'm better than that,” Murphy later said. “I'm way better than that, and for my team, that's not what we needed. That was unnecessary.”

It might have came out the wrong way on that tech, but you could not doubt the intensity that Murphy was playing with Wednesday in Auburn’s 79-61 revenge win.

It was something that an Auburn team that had lost eight of its last 10 games desperately needed, considering how much slow and uninspiring starts had dotted their late-season slide.

“Besides the two fouls in a heartbeat, he was tremendous,” Overton said. “His energy is unmatched. I've never played with a big man with so much energy. He's just consistent. I'd say he's one of the main people on the team that matches my energy.”

It was fitting that both Murphy and Overton led the charge for Auburn in an electric comeback — combined with an emphatic finish — to knock off Mississippi State and ensure that it wouldn’t have a one-and-done stay in Nashville.

“Obviously needed that one,” head coach Steven Pearl said.

Auburn trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and opened the second half staring at an eight-point deficit in less than a minute. But the Tigers rallied, going on a 21-2 run that featured four Overton 3-pointers and two more big Murphy buckets.

On the other end of the floor, Hubbard and Mississippi State didn’t have any answer to what Auburn was doing defensively. The Bulldogs racked up missed shots and bad turnovers, giving the Tigers all the momentum in the world.

And when Mississippi State yanked Auburn’s lead down from 12 to three quickly, the Tigers closed the game on a 19-4 run.

The dagger was another Overton triple. Murphy finished the game like he started it — with a massive second-chance dunk and a stop of Hubbard on the other end.

“Honestly, we knew what we had to come out and fix,” Murphy said. “It was on us as players, not coaches. That played a big role in the performance we had in the second half. I’m glad we were able to stay together and make it happen.

“Last time, it didn’t go like that. That’s a big step for our team.”

Nothing that Auburn could do Wednesday at the SEC Tournament would change what has gone wrong late in the season. Beating an underwhelming Mississippi State team, even if it was revenge, wouldn’t move the needle for its slim NCAA Tournament hopes.

But you have to play the cards your dealt, especially when you put yourself in a hole. Auburn did a much better job of starting strong, playing good defense and responding to adversity than it has in recent weeks.

That’s all you can do — if you want to keep playing, that is.

“It's a new season, and you've got to put that behind you,” Overton said. “You're not going to get it back. It can't affect your postseason. Just a new approach and a new opportunity. S—t, we lost some games, we lost to some teams.

“This is our opportunity for some get-back.”

Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 79-61 win over Mississippi State in the first round of the SEC Tournament, along with the Rotation Charts and the Quote of the Day.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

A night-and-day difference on defense in the rematch

In the first meeting in Starkville, Mississippi State averaged 1.379 points per possession on Auburn as Hubbard and Friends turned the game into their own version of a 3-point shooting contest.

In the rematch in Nashville, Mississippi State averaged just 0.859 points per possession — more than a half a point worse — and scored on less than 40% of its trips down the floor.