OXFORD — Size matters.

No. 23 Ole Miss learned that the hard way Saturday versus top-ranked Auburn.

The Rebels twice cut Auburn’s lead to a single point in the second half, but each time, the Tigers used a combination of sheer size and the extra pass to kill Ole Miss rallies.

The result was a 92-82 win for the Tigers, sending a rowdy crowd at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion home mostly unhappy.

Auburn won rebounds, 41-30, including a 15-11 advantage on the offensive glass. The Tigers won second-chance points, 17-14, and lost points in the paint, 34-28, but those numbers didn’t really tell the story.

Auburn was able to answer every Ole Miss run with size, usually in the form of Johni Broome and/or Dylan Cardwell. Their rebounds and passing led to open looks, and Auburn knocked them down with precision. The Tigers had 22 assists on 30 field goals and made half of their 28 shots from behind the 3-point line.

“They’re definitely some monsters and whenever you get into rotations, sometimes a shot goes up and it’s a little more difficult to box out a guy that big, obviously,” Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla, who gave up six or more inches in those matchups, said. “Also, when they get in that short post area, sometimes they can pass over the trap. They’re also good passers and rebounders, so it’s definitely difficult to guard those dudes at times.”

“The difference was we were able to answer every run that they made and Dylan and Johni were just too physically dominant,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “These are two gentle giants. They’re great men. They’re great people but they play with a physicality and a dominance. …That wins. That travels. It wins and it’s every night.”

Ole Miss fell to 16-6 overall and 5-4 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn improved to 20-1 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the league.

Ole Miss pulled within 59-58 on Jaylen Murray’s free throw with 8:05 left. A Dylan Cardwell free throw extended the Tigers’ advantage to 60-58.

After Mikeal Brown-Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one, Auburn used passing to swing the basketball to an open man. Chad Baker-Mazara made the Rebels pay, knocking down a 3-pointer to push Auburn’s lead to 66-60.

After Sean Pedulla’s three free throws cut the lead in half, Auburn got an offensive rebound and swung the ball to Baker-Mazara for another wide open 3. After an Ole Miss turnover committed by Jaemyn Brakefield, Tahaad Pettiford finished Auburn’s transition with a dunk.

Just like that, the Tigers’ lead was back out to a comfortable eight points.

“They make big shots in big moments,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “They make big plays in big moments. I think our team has the ability to do that.”

Against Auburn, Beard said, it’s a “pick your poison” approach on defense. Broome’s passing has become a weapon, making it “a chess game,” Beard said.

Ole Miss got as close as one point early in the second half only to see Auburn answer with a quick 8-0 run. It was the game in a nutshell. Ole Miss labored for offense. Auburn, creating mismatches and open perimeter shots with extra passes out of double teams and the Rebels’ scrambling defense, was able to find buckets when it truly needed them.

“I felt like, a couple of different times, we were a play away from tying the game,” Pedulla said. “I could just feel the energy in the building kind of waiting for that to happen, waiting to explode. The crowd was great, I thought, and we were just a play away a couple of times from making it a lot closer game at the end if not shifting it our way.”

“I thought we played hard enough to win,” Beard said. “I’m not so sure, just my opinion, that this isn’t one of the better games Auburn’s played. …They had three of four games show up and play, in my opinion, their A-games.

“We’re playing hard, man. We’re playing hard. …With about eight minutes left, we’re on the free throw line to cut this thing to a one-possession game. Give our guys credit.”

Ole Miss will likely look back and wonder what could have been if the Rebels had been able to consistently knock down their free throws. Ole Miss was 24-for-35 from the line, but it missed 11 of their first 22, killing a chance to make the Tigers play without the lead.

Auburn, meanwhile, was 18-for-23 from the free throw line.

Where the Tigers were deadly was from the perimeter. They moved the basketball deftly and created open looks. Then they knocked them down. Auburn was 14-for-28 from the 3-point line. Ole Miss was just 6-for-19.

“I thought we earned the free throw differential,” Beard said. “I thought we were the most aggressive team throughout some of the game, maybe the majority of the game. I was a little frustrated late because of the inconsistency of it, but at that point, I’m just fighting for our guys.”

Pedulla led Ole Miss with 29 and five rebounds. Matthew Murrell added 17 points and four boards. Brakefield had 12 points and five rebounds.

Auburn got 20 points and 12 boards from Broome. Baker-Mazara added 18 points, including 4-for-6 shooting from deep. Miles Kelly had 15 points, aided by 3-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line. Cardwell had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Auburn closed the first half with a 6-0 run to lead by seven, 41-34. Ole Miss blew a big-time chance by shooting just 4-for-10 from the free throw line while limiting Auburn to just four shots from the charity stripe.

Meanwhile, Auburn made Ole Miss pay for its concentration on paint defense. The Tigers hit eight of their 15 shots from behind the 3-point line. Auburn also dominated the glass in the opening 20 minutes, winning rebounds, 22-12.

Ole Miss returns to action Tuesday in Oxford versus Kentucky. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN.