BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— Auburn women’s basketball plays a rare neutral site SEC game Monday night when the Tigers take on No. 17 Ole Miss at Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
Admission is free for the Monday night contest, which begins at 6 p.m. Arena doors open at 5 p.m.
The game was moved to Birmingham as northern Mississippi, including Oxford and the Ole Miss campus, continued to experience significant impacts from recent winter weather.
Auburn (13-9, 2-6 SEC) is wrapping up a string of five straight games against top-25 opponents. In their last game, the Tigers fell at home to No. 3 South Carolina Thursday night.
Ole Miss (18-4, 5-2) also had their last game relocated to Birmingham. The Rebels defeated No. 5 Vanderbilt 83-75 Friday afternoon at Legacy Arena.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 5:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network + with Curt Bloom, Mo Finley and Emily Grace McWhorter calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› In its fourth straight top-25 matchup, Syriah Daniels and Harissoum Coulibaly each scored in double figures but No. 3 South Carolina defeated the Tigers 81-51 Thursday at Neville Arena.
›› Daniels made three 3-pointers and led Auburn with 11 points. Coulibaly added 10 points. Khady Leye scored all nine of her points in the second half and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give the Tigers a second top-25 win this season.
›› Snap a 2-game skid against Ole Miss.
›› Be Auburn’s first neutral site win over a top-25 opponent since the 2009 SEC Tournament (def. #19 Tennessee).
AUBURN-OLE MISS SERIES
›› This is the 69th meeting between Auburn and Ole Miss in women’s basketball. Auburn leads the series 38-30. The teams have met 10 times at neutral sites, twice in the NCAA Tournament and eight times in the SEC Tournament; Auburn leads those meetings 6-4.
TIGERS IN THE MAGIC CITY
›› Monday’s game will be the first time for Auburn to play a regular-season SEC game at a neutral site since the SEC started sponsoring women’s basketball in 1982-83.
›› This will be the second Auburn women’s basketball game in Legacy Arena at the BJCC. The Tigers played Tulane there on Dec. 13, 1998, in the Arby’s Hardwood Classic, falling 64-53.
›› Auburn is 14-4 all-time in games played in Birmingham. The other 17 games played in the Magic City have been at UAB.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 2, 2025, in Auburn
#25 Ole Miss 85, Auburn 58
›› DeYona Gaston continued her torrid scoring with 30 points but Auburn dropped its SEC opener to No. 25 Ole Miss 85-58 at Neville Arena.
›› Gaston, the nation’s sixth leading scorer, was 8-of-15 from the floor and 14-for-17 from the free-throw line in 36 minutes, reaching the 30-point mark for the third time this season.
›› Auburn struggled to find much offense other than Gaston, committing 29 turnovers while compiling only seven assists.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
›› Ole Miss is 18-4 overall, 5-2 in SEC play. The Rebels defeated No. 5 Vanderbilt 83-75 Friday afternoon in Birmingham in their last outing.
›› The Rebels average 78.5 points per game and hold opponents to 57.5 per game. Ole Miss shoots 17.2 free throws per game, ninth-most nationally, and they rank in the national top 25 in turnover margin (21st - +6.4) and rebound margin (21st - +9.2).
›› Cotie McMahon is the SEC’s fourth-leading scorer (19th NCAA) with 19.7 points per game. Latasha Lattimore averages 2.1 blocked shots per game, third-best in the SEC.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 13-9 on the year, 2-6 in SEC play. The Tigers have a pair of SEC wins over Florida and Alabama and are at the end of a stretch where they play five straight top-25 opponents.
›› True freshman Harissoum Coulibaly averages a team-best 11.0 points per game; she has moved into the starting lineup for the bulk of SEC play, where she is scoring 11.1 points per game. She was named SEC Freshman of the Week Dec. 23 after averaging 15.0 points in the two wins over MTSU and Alcorn. She also shoots a team-best 49.3% from the field. She led Auburn with 19 points, matching a season-best, in the win over Georgia State Nov. 17. She made a splash in her college debut Nov. 3 at Charlotte, scoring a team-leading 19 points with nine of those coming in the pivotal overtime period. She added 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists vs. MVSU.
›› Redshirt junior Kaitlyn Duhon averages 9.4 points per game. One of the top defenders in the SEC, she also leads the Tigers with 3.2 steals per game, which ranks fourth in the SEC and 15th nationally. She shared the team lead with 14 points in the win over Florida Jan. 11. Duhon scored a career-high 20 points and was 5-of-5 from 3-point range at Seton Hall Dec. 14. She also had a career-best 7 steals in the win over Cal on Nov. 26, then had 15 points and six steals at Syracuse Dec. 3. She matched her career-high in steals with 7 at Mississippi State on Jan. 1.
›› Sophomore Khady Leye has been steady, averaging 8.8 points and a team-best 5.0 rebounds. Her 16-point, 9-rebound performance led the Tigers to a win over No. 21 Alabama Jan. 15. She scored a career-high 20 points in the win over MVSU, then she recorded her first Auburn double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds vs. Georgia State. She added a team-leading 14 points in the win over Rutgers Nov. 20 and matched that 14-point total against Tennessee Jan. 4.
›› Mya Petticord, a senior transfer from Rutgers, matched a season high with 21 points, hitting 4-of-5 3s to lead Auburn in the win over Jackson State. She hit the game-winning shot against her former team, hitting a driving layup with 10 seconds left to clinch the Tigers’ win Nov. 20. She had her best game in two years with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (3-4 3FG) in the win over Alabama State. She followed that up with a team-leading 18 points (4-7 3FG) in the win over UNCG.
›› Ja’Mia Harris scored in double figures in three of the first four games. Most recently, she flirted with a double-double, scoring 8 points with a career-high 9 rebounds in the win over Florida Jan. 11. She shared the team lead with 19 points and led the Tigers with 8 rebounds in the win at Charlotte Nov. 3, then scored 16 with four 3-pointers in the win over Alabama State. She followed that up with a pair of 3-pointers on an 11-point night - along with 7 rebounds - vs. UNCG, and she had 17 points and 7 rebounds at Seton Hall.
›› Senior guard A’riel Jackson matched a career-high with 19 points and 5 assists vs. Oklahoma, knocking down three 3-pointers for the third time this season. Along with a 10-point night at Vanderbilt, she’s averaging 14.5 points in the last two contests off the bench. She scored a season-high 17 points, going 7-11 from the field and 3-3 from 3-point range to lead the Tigers in their win over Cal Nov. 26. Jackson knocked down three first-half treys, scoring 9 points with a team-best 4 assists vs. UNCG. She then had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists against Alabama State.
›› Sophomore Syriah Daniels dazzled in her first start of the season at MTSU, setting or matching career-highs with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks in the win. She also scored 10 points with four rebounds and two steals vs. MVSU. Daniels helped seal the win over No. 21 Alabama in the final seconds, taking a charge to give Auburn the ball back with a two-point lead. She led Auburn with 11 points off the bench vs. South Carolina.
›› Freshman Sania Richardson had the best game of her young career with 12 points in the win over Jackson State. She averages 3.8 points off the bench and is becoming one of Auburn’s top 3-point threats.
›› 6-9 redshirt freshmen Arek Angui notched her first career double-double with career-highs 11 points and 11 rebounds vs. Mississippi Valley State. She made her first appearance for Auburn against Alabama State Nov. 8 and pulled down a team-leading 8 rebounds along with 3 points. Originally from South Sudan, she played one season of high school basketball at Greenforest Academy in Georgia.
›› Senior guard Angena Belloso transferred from FIU where she played in 57 games the last 2 years. She scored a season-high 10 points, all in the second quarter, in Auburn’s game with Oregon Nov. 30.
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
›› 21 of 22 opponents on Auburn’s schedule have been held below their season scoring average, and three have been held to their season-low against the Tigers, including two SEC opponents.
›› The Tigers are holding opponents an average of 10.0 points below their season average, and SEC opponents are averaging 8.8 points below their average against Auburn.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn continues a two-game road swing with a trip to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators Thursday night. Game time is 6 p.m. CT at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.