The Ole Miss Men’s Basketball team lost 62-57 in overtime to the Florida Gators in the two teams’ second matchup in as many weeks.
Ole Miss let a game slip away that they probably deserved to win. They outrebounded the Gators by 12, coming down with 44 and allowing Florida to grab just four offensive boards the entire game.
The Rebels out defended and outworked Florida for the majority of the game. Florida shot 41% from the field, but Ole Miss’s ability to limit them to one shot per possession for most of the game all but shut down the Gator offense.
The problem for the Rebels this game was shooting. Ole Miss shot just 31% from the court in a game where both teams scored only 48 points apiece in regulation.
Jarkel Joiner was able to play after missing the last eight games with a back injury. Despite looking healthy on the court, he wasn’t able to find his game and finished with just seven points, knocking down only three of his ten shots.
Ole Miss started out the game hot, jumping out to a nine point lead midway through the first half and eventually took the same lead into halftime. The Rebels were controlling the tempo of the game with their lockdown defense and were shooting at a serviceable rate.
Florida was able to get back in the game early in the second half due to Ole Miss’s inability to make shots. The Rebels went a little over ten minutes in the second half without hitting a field goal. They scored just one point in the first ten minutes and would eventually score just 18 in the entire half.
Despite the Rebels’ poor shooting, they were still out-rebounding the Gators and outworking them on the defensive end. Both teams went through several long periods of time without scoring, making for one of the sloppiest games of the year so far.
Ole Miss’s best play was to just shoot it and go get it as second-chance points provided for a large portion of the offense in the second half.
With the game tied at 48, Ole Miss had the ball with 29 seconds left but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity.
In overtime, the Rebels missed critical free throws and turned the ball over when they desperately needed a basket. Florida’s Colin Castleton got hot in overtime and almost single-handedly secured the win for the Gators.
Castleton led the way in scoring for the Gators with his 17 point, seven-rebound performance. Tye Fagan led the Rebels in scoring with 15 points but committed eight costly turnovers.
Ole Miss falls to 12-11 and 3-7 in conference play. They’re a team that shows a lot of heart each and every game as they continue to fight despite battling so much turmoil with injuries and a number of disappointing losses.
The road won’t get any easier for the Rebels as it was announced earlier in the week that Daeshun Ruffin would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Their next action will be in Oxford on Feb. 9 where they will take on the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
