ATLANTA (AP) _ Kenyan Weaks scored 18 points to lead No. 11 Florida _ one of four teams that shared the Southeastern Conference title _ to an 89-67 victory over Mississippi on Thursday in the first round of the league tournament.

The Gators (24-6) shared the SEC title with three other teams, but were seeded third in the Eastern Division _ behind No. 8 Tennessee and No. 16 Kentucky _ and forced to play a first-round game. They'll play Auburn, the second seed in the Western Division, in a Friday quarterfinal.

The loss sent Ole Miss (17-13) to the NIT, ending a string of three-straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Needing to win four games to win the tournament _ and gain a high seed in the NCAA tournament _ Florida hoped for an easy time against the Rebels. But the Gators struggled in the first half _ they trailed by nine at one point _ and couldn't take command of the game until midway through the second half.

Leading just 50-49 at the 12:15 mark, Florida reeled off 20-0 run to put Mississippi away. Mike Miller and Weaks started it with consecutive 3s, but the real damage happened when the Gators scored seven points in a 25 second span.

Brent Wright hit a jumper with 8:24 to play and Ole Miss' Marcus Hicks lost the inbound pass two seconds later to Weaks, who was fouled and made two free throws. The Rebels didn't score at the other end, Wright hit a running jumper for Florida and was fouled. His free throw with 7:59 to play made it 65-49.

The Gators stretched it to 69-49 on Brett Nelson's layup with 6:58 to play.

The cold-shooting Rebels, meanwhile, ended a five minute scoring drought on Hicks' layup with 6:50 to play. But it was too late for Ole Miss, which was 4-for-22 from 3-point range and was outrebounded 41-24.

Weaks made four of Florida's five 3-pointers. Miller scored 15. Udonis Haslem added 11, Donnell Harvey had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Justin Hamilton scored 10.

Jason Harrison led the Rebels with 20 points. Hicks scored 19 and Rahim Lockhart added 12.