Observations: Ole Miss 86, Auburn 84

Youth isn't an *excuse* for the way the Tigers are playing right now. It is an *explanation*, as evidenced by their latest loss in SEC play.

C Jaylin Williams (Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics)

In crunch time of a close SEC game, seniors played like seniors.

Unfortunately, Auburn doesn’t have any of those right now.

Auburn led Ole Miss by as many as 14 points in the second half Saturday afternoon. Then veteran guard Devontae Shuler caught fire alongside Romello White, an experienced transfer from Arizona State who seemingly could not miss.

The Tigers survived to force overtime, and they managed to score five points in 22 seconds to tie things up late. But Shuler hit an impressive midrange shot as time expired, and the nation’s 91st most-experienced team celebrated a road win over the nation’s second least-experience team.

“Down the stretch obviously, I told our guys, even in timeouts, 'If we get beat, they'll say they're older, more-experienced, been there, done that. Let's not let that happen,'“ head coach Bruce Pearl said after the 86-84 loss. “We told them what (Ole Miss) would do, and they did it.”

As everyone involved in Aub…