Auburn’s offense, as hot as it can be sometimes, simply can’t keep up with its own defense.

The latest example was provided Thursday night at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, where No. 18 Ole Miss became the fourth team in six games to notch a personal conference high in points en route to sending Auburn to an 84-74 loss before an announced crowd of 6,984 fans.

The loss dropped Auburn to 1-5 in the SEC and below .500 for the season (10-11). Auburn hasn’t started this poorly in conference play since the 2005-06 season, coach Jeff Lebo’s second year with the program.

“Pretty standard for us. We get to the 8-minute mark and we can’t finish them out,” Lebo said. “We’re having a hard time trying to defend.”

Auburn has held only one SEC team (Kentucky) to less than 80 points through its first six SEC games. The Tigers’ latest effort, coupled with Arkansas allowing Mississippi State just 62 points Thursday night, bumped them down from 11th to last place in scoring defense among SEC teams.

In this game, Lebo said it was Ole Miss’ height on the perimeter that caused problems for Auburn’s three guards, none of whom stands taller than 6-foot-2. Terrico White and Eniel Polynice both measure out at 6-5 and each player had no problems slashing to the hoop on their way to a combined 34 points on 14-of-23 shooting, a telling sign of just how easy some of their looks were from the field.

“Defensively, whether you play man or zone,” Lebo said, “you’re still little.”

The smallest player on the court, though, did the most damage for Ole Miss.

Chris Warren, all 5-11 of him, led the Rebels with 20 points and dished out five assists, as his constant penetration helped provide the bulk of Ole Miss’ easy baskets.

The Rebels outscored Auburn 46-24 in the paint. Ole Miss took 14 fewer shots than Auburn, but ended up sinking seven more en route to a 57 percent night from the field.

“It’s hard to beat somebody when they shoot 57 percent,” Lebo said. “Points in the paint killed us.”

Matador defense notwithstanding, Auburn was either in the lead or within reasonable striking distance throughout the majority of Thursday’s game.

The Tigers took a 41-38 lead into halftime and regained a 57-57 tie after Ty Armstrong’s nifty reverse dunk midway through the second half.

The rest of the game followed the familiar pattern Auburn has established since its conference-opening loss to South Carolina.

The Rebels went up 5 on a Murphy Holloway layup and then turned a 3-point advantage into double digits with a 12-2 run from 6:46 to 4:27 remaining in the game.

“We always play with a lot more energy in the first half than the second half,” said Tay Waller, who finished with a season-high 21 points. “We came out flat in the second half. We showed spurts but for some reason couldn’t keep it up.”

Auburn has allowed an average of 44 points in the second halves of its five SEC losses.

“We need to dig down and get some stops,” Lebo said. “We haven’t been able to get two, three, four in a row. It’s been a frustrating thing, especially in crunch time.”

The Tigers’ offense, meanwhile, did everything it could to keep up throughout the first 30 minutes, but sputtered when it was needed most.

Auburn hit eight 3-pointers in the first half, spearheaded by Waller’s 16 first-half points to take control of the tempo. Those shots didn’t fall in the second half, though, as DeWayne Reed, Frankie Sullivan and Waller scored a combined 6 points through the first 15 minutes of the second half.

“It’s the same thing every game,” Waller said. “We’re trying to search for answers.”

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