Waller scores 32 in win over Mississippi State

Tay Waller’s had plenty of days like Saturday.

“Yeah,” coach Jeff Lebo said, “but it was in JUCO.”

Waller’s biggest day as a Tiger came in the biggest game of Auburn’s season to date.

The hot-cold sharpshooter caught fire early and maintained it throughout on his way to a career-high 32 points as Auburn took down Mississippi State, 91-76, before 6,451 fans at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

The win, the Tigers’ third in a row, moved them to 5-5 in conference play, just one game behind the second-place Bulldogs in the SEC West. This is the latest in the season Auburn has been at or above .500 since the 2002-03 season.

“This was an important stretch for us,” Lebo said of the Tigers’ three consecutive home conference games. “It looks like we’re playing with a little bit of confidence now.”

Confidence hadn’t betrayed Waller, even though he had yet to find a rhythm since conference play commenced.

In the past five games, Waller combined for just 36 points, but still averaged almost nine 3-point attempts each time out.

Though consistency betrayed him, support from his supporting cast and coaches did not. Keep shooting, they told him.

“They never lost confidence in me,” Waller said.

If it ever wavered, Waller won it back from everyone in the first five minutes Saturday.

Waller hit his first five 3-point attempts, all before the first media timeout. As has been the case all season, most of the looks were either heavily contested or questionable in terms of degree of difficulty.

“They came out and hit us in the mouth hard early. That was obvious,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “I don’t know what we could do better on some of those first ones.”

Waller’s hot hand lingered into the second half, but it was his versatility as a slasher, defender and rebounder that elicited kudos from Lebo.

With the Tigers reeling after their lead evaporated to just a 2-point margin at halftime that quickly turned into a 5-point deficit, Waller and Frankie Sullivan took over in a game-clinching 18-4 run.

Waller knocked down his seventh of eight 3-pointers before finding Sullivan for a breakaway dunk to push Auburn ahead for the final time. Sullivan followed with a 3-pointer of his own, drew a charge at the other end, found Brendon Knox open for a two-handed slam and capped the rally with another 3-pointer.

“Coach Lebo just told us that Tay was hot and to feed him and feed off him,” said Sullivan, who finished with a personal SEC-best 14 points.

DeWayne Reed added 16 points and six assists while Korvotney Barber, who battled with one of the SEC’s premier big-men, Jarvis Varnado, finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Barber, who came into the game shooting 43 percent from the foul line, knocked down seven of his eight attempts to account for the bulk of his points.

The other statistical anomaly was Waller’s game-high and career-best nine rebounds — his most since high school, he said.

With guard-heavy Mississippi State attempting 35 3-pointers, long rebounds were the flavor of the day, and Waller won the majority of “50-50” balls that came his way.

“He’s really improved defensively and that has really helped us,” Lebo said. “We’ve challenged him to get some rebounds and what we’re more proud of is that he got nine rebounds in tonight’s game.”

Of course, Auburn’s going to win more games because of Waller’s hot hand rather than his savvy on the glass.

When Lebo recruited Waller from Okaloosa-Walton College in Florida, he told Waller he thought he could be “the next Chris Lofton of the SEC West.”

Waller’s not up to the level of the former Tennessee star yet, but games like Saturday’s make memories of the past seem like feasible expectations for the future.

“He can make tough ones,” Lebo said, “and that’s a God given gift.”

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