For as prolific as Jarvis Varnado is at blocking shots down low, where it seems opposing teams keep a safe distance from the Mississippi State forward, he does have a weakness as Auburn center Brendon Knox sees it.

“He’s pretty quick, but his size is a liability,” the 6-foot-10 AU senior said, “so we just got to take it straight at him.”

That’s the gameplan for the Tigers (12-12, 3-6 SEC) as they take on Mississippi State (17-7, 5-4) at 6 p.m. today in Starkville.

At 6-9, Varnado doesn’t look the part of shot blocker — on paper, that is.

But on the court, the Bulldog senior is vicious, and very, very good at altering and/or stuffing opponent’s shots inside the paint.

It’s why he’s second in NCAA history with 513 blocks, just 22 away from former Louisiana-Monroe big man Wojciech Mydra’s record of 535 (1998-2002). And Varnado still has seven regular-season games to play. And if he stays on his average of five per game, he could very well be the NCAA record holder when SEC Tournament play begins in March.

And it’s not just defense, Varnado is averaging 13.4 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest as well.

He plays a lot bigger than he looks. And everyone knows it, especially with a 7-foot, 4-inch wing span.

“He shuts down anything easy around the basket area,” Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo said. “You look at their field goal percent defense (37 percent, which is best in the SEC and fourth in the NCAA) and that really has a lot to do with not ever getting anything easy around the basket area.

“He covers so much ground with his length and his ability to move. I’ve never seen a guy even when you kind of get to his chest, he kind of just takes the hit and kind of unfolds and gets a piece of a shot. I haven’t seen many people score on him consistently inside.”

But Knox has had some success.

In the two games against the Bulldogs last year, Knox scored 8 and 10 respectively, missing only two field goal attempts combined. Varnado had four blocks against the Tigers in the first meeting and two in the second – both Auburn wins.

And the key, Knox said, is not to be timid.

“You got to try to take it straight to him,” said the senior who averages 8.5 points a game off the bench. “You can’t try to go over him, because he’s going to block it. It’s best if you go straight at him — try to go through his body.

“You just got to play him honest, basically. Since he’s smaller, try to use your body aggressively.”

Attacking the paint and the opposing team’s big man worked well in Auburn’s win over Georgia on Wednesday night.

The Tigers forced Georgia big man Trey Thompkins to foul out with 8:33 to play in the game after scoring just 6 points in 13 total minutes.

And to be successful tonight, Lebo said Knox has to be able to have success in the paint, while staying out of foul trouble himself.

“We need to get the ball in there some to him,” Lebo said of Knox. “He needs to get some touches in there. (Varnado) is hard to score against, but Brendon’s a little herky-jerky in there at times that bothers the timing of the shot blocker when he gets it in there. And he’s strong when he catches it in there. It’s not complicated when he gets it, but he is pretty strong at knocking people back and going to the rim area.”

Knox not only needs to play well tonight for the Tigers to have a chance at winning, but Lebo says the senior center will have to be on his game for the rest of the year if Auburn wants a chance at turning around its season.

“I think he’s continued to build confidence,” Lebo said. “About this time last year was when he really started to show that he had a chance to be a very good player. Maybe he’s a guy that needs to wait till February to do it consistently. I don’t know.

“We need him. He’s an important part of what we do. Obviously, being able to throw the ball inside, it gives us a fifth – when you play (6-6) Lucas (Hargrove) with him, with our three guards – it gives you five guys out there that can score. It makes us much harder to defend.”

| 737-2513