Jan. 14, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- By the end of Saturday's game at Mississippi State, the only fans still cheering were those wearing orange and blue. The loudest applause likely came from the upper deck where the two busloads of Auburn fans sat and watched their Tigers pull away in the second half and win, 76-68.
How about the @AuburnMBB fans bringing that energy with them to Starkville today?
🚌 trip = success pic.twitter.com/il4IE5NNup-- Greg Ostendorf (@greg_ostendorf) January 13, 2018
It was Auburn's 14th straight win, which is the longest active winning streak in the country and the longest for the Tigers since they won 14 straight during the 1999-2000 season. Auburn also matched its best start (16-1) since that same 1999-2000 season.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday's win.
DÃÆ'Æ'©jÃÆ'Æ' vu
At halftime, Auburn looked out of sorts. The players were struggling to knock down shots or find any kind of rhythm on offense. They were getting outmatched on the glass by a bigger, stronger Mississippi State team. They trailed 35-24 heading into the locker room.
Sound familiar?
It should. The Tigers found themselves in a similar predicament Tuesday night at home against Ole Miss. In that game, they rallied back in the second half and eventually pulled away for the victory. On Saturday, they followed the same script. They rebounded better. Shots started to fall. And they outscored the Bulldogs, 52-33 in the final 20 minutes.
"We've been there before," junior guard Bryce Brown said. "So at (halftime), it was just staying composed, staying together and making each other better. The first half we got a little rowdy. We didn't really play together like we normally do. That's happened before. It actually happened last game. So we stayed composed, and it led us to this victory."
It's the fourth time Auburn has won after trailing by at least 10 points this season, including the third time in four SEC games.
Brown from downtown
The spark that ignited Auburn in the second half was Brown. The junior guard, who made just 2 of his 6 shot attempts in the first half, started to catch fire after the break. He knocked down three shots from long range in a span of less than three minutes to keep the Tigers within striking distance and finished with a team-high 23 points, including 15 in the second half.
"[Bruce Pearl] challenged me to be more aggressive and stay in attack mode because their defense was bothering all of us," Brown said. "They weren't letting us have a look that we wanted. In the second half, we came out more aggressive, and I came out looking for my shot and open teammates. That made the difference at that point."
"Bryce Brown, he took over, offensively," Pearl said. "He was feeling it. He is really explosive."
For Brown, it was even more special because Saturday was his father's birthday. He gave his dad a shout out on Instagram before the game, and he made sure to wish him a happy birthday again after the game during an interview on the SEC Network.
Brown also moved into sixth on Auburn's career three-pointer list with 189, passing the likes of DeWayne Reed (184), Daymeon Fishback (185) and Tay Waller (187).
Alone at the top
With Auburn's win at Mississippi State and Florida's loss at Ole Miss on Saturday, the Tigers are now the SEC's lone unbeaten team in conference play. It's the program's first 4-0 start in SEC play since 2003 and just the seventh 4-0 start in SEC play in Auburn history.
"It sure does feel good to be in first place in the SEC," Pearl said on the Auburn radio broadcast following Saturday's game.
As of Sunday morning, the Tigers had climbed all the way to No. 6 in the NCAA's latest RPI rankings, and there's a good chance they crack the top 20 in the AP poll on Monday.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf