OXFORD — Allen Flanigan had spent a lot of time inside The Pavilion at Ole Miss over the past several years.

Each time, he was wearing an Auburn uniform, trying to help Bruce Pearl and the Tigers knock off the Rebels.

Flanigan spent four seasons at Auburn before transferring to Ole Miss this past spring after his father, Wes, joined Chris Beard’s staff in Oxford.

“It’s a little bit weird coming in, getting adjusted and making that transition to the system here and the way Coach coaches,” Flanigan said last week as the Rebels began the team practice portion of the preseason.

At Auburn, Flanigan’s role ebbed and flowed. He played in 31 games as a freshman in 2019-20, averaging 3.2 points per game as a role player. A year later, he averaged 14.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in a leading role for the Tigers. In 2021-22, as Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler pushed Auburn into the top spot in the polls, Flanigan was more of a defender, getting 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds for a Tigers team that was bounced in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last season, with Smith and Kessler in the NBA, Flanigan was asked to score more and he responded, getting 10.1 points and five rebounds per game.

His role at Ole Miss, Flanigan said, is still being determined.

“I think it’s just going out there, being aggressive night in and night out, making plays defensively and rebounding the ball,” Flanigan said. “Those are my two main focuses — playing defense without fouling and rebounding the ball at a high rate and letting the game come to me.”

Flanigan’s bigger objective, of course, is to help Ole Miss win games.

“The goal is for us to come here, win games and turn this program around,” Flanigan said. “It’s just day in and day out, constantly trying to get that one percent better and having teammates holding each other accountable and having great practices.”

Flanigan has full confidence in Beard to do just that. His father was on Beard’s staff at Little Rock in 2015-16 when the Trojans rolled through the Sun Belt Conference, won more than 30 games and knocked off Purdue in the NCAA Tournament.

“I believe in this guy sitting right here beside me,” Flanigan said, referring to Beard. “I know what he’s done in the past. I was there first-hand to witness what he did in Little Rock, my hometown. Knowing all of that and knowing who he is as a person led me here to come play for a great coach.”

Ole Miss opens the season Nov. 6 against Alabama State in Oxford.