Pearl on win over Ole Miss

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Inside Allen, Wes Flanigan’s return to Auburn and Neville Arena with Ole Miss

Updated: Jan. 21, 2024, 12:25 a.m.|Published: Jan. 20, 2024, 11:25 p.m.

6–7 minutes

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Under the arena lights where he’d played for four years and the building where he walked across the stage as a college graduate, Allen Flanigan returned to Auburn wearing red.

He was the first Ole Miss player out of the visiting team’s tunnel right beside the student section. He wore Ole Miss powder blue sneakers on his old navy blue and orange floor and was met immediately with a loud chorus of boos from the packed-in student section around him.

They knew who was back.

Allen Flanigan played at Auburn from 2019-2023. His dad Wes was an assistant coach at Auburn from 2018-2023 and a 1,000-point scorer during his own days as an Auburn played in the 1990s. Both left after the 2023 season as Chris Beard was named the new head coach at Ole Miss. He hired Wes Flanigan to join his staff — Flanigan had previously been a Beard assistant before coming to Auburn — and Allen Flanigan followed his father.

They both returned to Neville Arena on Saturday with No. 22 Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3) and left with a decisive 82-59 loss to No. 13 Auburn (16-2, 5-0).

“The Flanigan family is a lot of things, nervous isn’t one of them,” Beard said after the game. “Allen Flanigan was not nervous. But I understand the question; I’ve been part of a couple of these in my career. Obviously, there’s a lot of emotion.”

Students jeered him for every shot in warm-ups he missed. One of the few well wishes he got were hugs from scouting director Ian Borders and graduate assistant Bryant Smith. Maybe in some way, it was all some extent of normal. He warmed up in his same routine in the same arena where the Jungle had once cheered for him as one of their own. Just warming up on the other basket and sitting on the other bench.

Wes Flanigan stood on the left side of the “U” in Auburn’s center-court logo. He watched his son and the rest of the Rebels warmups. He chatted with and hugged Auburn assistant coach Chad Prewett.

But he looked around frequently. He looked up at the scoreboard. Looked up at the crowd. He also wore wearing red as he took in the scene and acknowledge he’d now become the villain of the arena he once called home.

The true introduction for the Auburn graduates turned enemies came during the starting lineup announcements. Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl gave Allen Flanigan a hug as they both took the floor, but when the lights went down and Allen Flanigan was called out as a starter, the students responded with an extra loud yell of “Sucks!” after his name, and several boos as he shook the hands of the officials.

Yet those boos were mixed with smatterings of applause. For every fan making him public enemy number one, there were as many who saluted the player as Pearl had advocated Friday: as an Auburn graduate.

And then, it was just basketball. Early on, students booed Flanigan every time he touched the ball. With so much experience with him in their own practices, Auburn had laid out a meticulous game plan to stop him.

He finished the game with 10 points on 3-10 shooting, far below his season averages.

“Me and Al were the same class,” graduate guard Lior Berman said. “We had our time at Auburn. So we’ve had some battles in practice. But Al’s a great player and It was pretty cool matching up against him.”

It’s fitting the man playing among the most notable roles in that defensive effort came from Berman. Berman had guarded Flanigan in practice for four years.

And in practice this week leading up to the game, Berman played the role of Flanigan on the scout team.

“Yeah, so in practices, I’m actually playing on scout and playing the other team — which kind of helps me, because I get to run their plays in practice,” Berman said. “During the game, I can see if their coach calls something, I can go, ‘Oh, I ran this.’ I know what spot to be in. Yeah, just knowing what spot to be in and knowing what everyone’s doing, it’s just really helped me in the game to be in the right spot and be able to make plays.”

AUBURN, AL - JANUARY 20 - Auburn’s Lior Berman (24) during the game between the #13 Auburn Tigers and the #22 Ole Miss at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. Photo by Grayson Belanger/Auburn TigersGrayson Belanger/Auburn Tigers

Berman forced three consecutive Flanigan misses and came back down on the other end to deliver a 3-pointer giving Auburn a lead a double-digit lead it would not relinquish.

“It was more than his time to come out and Chad (Baker-Marzara) was due to come in,” Pearl said. “Chad Baker says to (assistant coach Ira Bowman), ‘Leave him in there. Lior is playing so great.’”

Allen Flanigan was near the front of the line of Ole Miss players in handshakes when the result which was hardly ever in doubt became final. He walked down the line and said goodbye to his former teammates until he got down to forward Chris Moore.

The two are close, having played against each other as Arkansas natives. Moore said Friday that the two have kept in contact since the Flanigan’s left. And while the game may be chippy, there wasn’t bad blood.

So, Moore gave his friend and former teammate a hug. He playfully shoved Flanigan’s chest and gave him a hype-man talk seemingly to cheer him up after the loss.

To his former teammates, Allen Flanigan didn’t appear as the bad guy.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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al.com

3 takeaways as No. 13 Auburn dominates Ole Miss 82-59, takes solo lead in SEC

Updated: Jan. 21, 2024, 1:32 a.m.|Published: Jan. 20, 2024, 9:20 p.m.

4–5 minutes

HIGHLIGHTS: Auburn dominates Ole Miss, takes 1st place in SEC

This was the 146th-ever meeting between Auburn and Ole Miss, but the first time the two were ranked at the same time. In the historic meeting, No. 13 Auburn cruised to an 11th straight win, beating No. 22 Ole Miss 82-59.

Auburn is now 16-2 overall and in sole possession of the top spot the SEC.

Here are three takeaways from the win:

Auburn takes sole possession of first place in the SEC

For the first time since Auburn clinched the 2021-22 SEC regular season title, Auburn is back in possession of the SEC lead.

In doing so, Auburn has firmly cemented itself in the top tier of this league but the country, as well.

Auburn is ranked in the top 10 in every major computer metric. It will likely be in the top 10 of the Associated Press top 25 come Monday’s new ranking.

Auburn got something tonight it has barely had any chances to get: a ranked win.

Ole Miss is the first ranked team Auburn has played since Baylor. And while it’s fair to question how deserving Ole Miss may be of its rankings given its poor performances against the best teams it has played and its NET ranking outside the top 50, this was a missing piece on Auburn’s resume.

Auburn continues to have the best average margin of victory in the SEC and be ranked in the top 10 nationally.

There aren’t many other ways to put it. Auburn is a favorite if not the favorite in the SEC along with Tennessee and Kentucky. And this team, playing like this, is an elite contender for March.

Auburn’s bench, yet again, is spectacular

Among the biggest catalysts for Auburn’s 11-game streak is the bench.

It was Auburn’s bench lineup that sparked a 14-2 run over a 4:38 stretch in the second half. It’s what turned a comfortable Auburn lead into a rout over a ranked team.

That spurt caused by a lineup made up entirely of Auburn’s bench pushed Auburn to a lead of more than 30 points.

Ole Miss is very top-heavy with its production, but Auburn’s bench outscored Ole Miss’ bench 40-18.

Before Saturday night, Auburn’s bench already averaged the fifth most points per game of anyone in the nation and the most in the SEC.

It’s an Auburn team without a true star, but 11 solid, reliable contributors who have taken on the balance of this team well.

Allen Flanigan returns to Neville Arena

Former Auburn guard Allen Flanigan as well as former Auburn player and coach Wes Flanigan both returned to Neville Arena on Saturday for the first time since leaving for Ole Miss.

The reaction was squarely mixed.

Auburn students booed him during warm-ups. When he was announced during the starting lineups, he was met with a chorus of boos and applause simultaneously.

When the game began, students booed him whenever he touched the ball.

And Auburn’s defense did an impressive job making him and fellow guard Matt Murrell — Ole Miss’ two leading scorers — essentially non-factors.

Flanigan finished with 10 points on 3-10 shooting. Murrell finished with eight points on 3-8 shooting. Both average at least 16 points per game. A thoroughly impressive defensive effort.

It is especially a testament to the job Auburn guard Denver Jones did defensively with a difficult assignment of two productive guards. He defended both at various points. He’s become Auburn’s best defense guard this season.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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What a huge win! and Lior showed out a bit. whoever that was playfully saying he would get run over probably needs to eat those words..........grins.  bring on bama! my poor ol fingers are frozen so back to the space heater.........

Edited January 21 by aubiefifty

[Grumps 3,704]

57 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

What a huge win! and Lior showed out a bit. whoever that was playfully saying he would get run over probably needs to eat those words..........grins.  bring on bama! my poor ol fingers are frozen so back to the space heater.........

Lior will tell his kids about that game. AF is a much better player than Lior, but tonight, when it mattered, Lior shut him down. It seemed clear that OM was trying to exploit the matchup. Lior shut AF down 3 times straight and then made a dagger-to-the-heart 3 pointer. It was awesome!

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My Bball man crush. I don’t get an opportunity to shout him out that often. This was cool and shout out to CBM as well. This team has something special.