Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl knew Ole Miss was going to be waiting.

Following his team's 23-point demolition of the Rebels on Jan. 20, Pearl sat down for his postgame news conference. The first words out of mouth signaled concern for what the Tigers were going to have to deal with in the near future: "Well, two weeks from now we’ve got to go back to Oxford," Pearl said in Neville Arena. "I’m already starting to get prepared, so I’m not going to get too happy."

Pearl's angst was warranted. Whether Ole Miss coach Chris Beard harped on the aforementioned beatdown with his squad or not, the Rebels (17-4, 5-4 SEC) came out looking like a team seeking to get back at the Tigers (18-4, 7-2) on Saturday. Auburn, however, countered after falling down early on the way a comeback 91-77 victory in SJB Pavilion.

The Tigers have their first Quadrant 1 win of the season, an important measure in NCAA Tournament seeding.

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Ole Miss punches Auburn basketball early

The defense was solid from Auburn, but it didn't seem to matter.

Ole Miss opened the game by making seven of its first nine shots, and the Rebels connected on half of 12 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc in the first half. The Tigers fell down by as many as 13 points in the opening 20 minutes, though a big triple from Denver Jones to end the first half helped cut the deficit to single digits at the break.

A concerted effort to get downhill

After only notching 12 points in the paint in the first half, Auburn finished with 44. The comeback effort was largely spurred by the Tigers' ability to force the ball inside.

Another strong second half for Johni Broome

Johni Broome was held scoreless in the first half. He ended up 15 points in the second. The All-SEC big man also registered a career-best seven assists to go along with nine rebounds and three blocks.

Next up on Auburn basketball's schedule

The Tigers will return home to Neville Arena for a rematch against Alabama on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2). The Crimson Tide topped Auburn earlier this season, outlasting the Tigers in Coleman Coliseum on Jan. 24.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball uses big second half to top Ole Miss for Quad 1 win