The Ole Miss Basketball team traveled to Columbia, Mo., on Saturday, March 2, to take on the University of Missouri for the second time this season in yet another too close for comfort victory for the Rebels.
Head Coach Chris Beard and his squad pulled out a 84-78 win over the Tigers, who are ranked last place in the SEC. The leading scorer was guard Matthew Murrell with an astonishing 21 points.
It was not a pretty win, however. The Rebels drove the action for most of the game, especially in the first half. Murrell was also the leading scorer of the first half with 11 points. Despite Murrell’s performance, the team started to slip toward the end of the game.
Ole Miss suffered from a spotty defense and constant fouling. The Rebels had 23 fouls in total, which is not ideal if you want to win basketball games.
The worst aspect of the game was that the Rebels struggled against a Mizzou team winless against all other SEC opponents.
First half
The beginning of the first half went the way of the Tigers. Missouri started off hot, quickly rising to 15 points. The Rebels responded with 12 unanswered points. The Rebels were then able to maintain their momentum and continue growing their lead, while completely halting the Missouri offense.
The Rebels defense was on a whole other level in the first half, too. Once they got into their sets, Ole Miss was like a brick wall that Mizzou’s offense could not manage to break through. The Rebels were dominant on the boards as well, totaling 20 rebounds.
The Tigers started to resurge toward the end of the half, bringing Ole Miss’ lead down to 19 points with the Rebels up 45-26. All told, the Rebels dominated the first half, as they completely outplayed the Tigers in all facets of the game.
Second half
In the second half, the Rebels kept their lead, but they committed three fouls in the first two minutes of play. Rebel forward Jamarion Sharp continued to dominate the boards while also excelling in the block category.
Mizzou upped the intensity in the late game, cutting the Rebels’ lead down to only seven points. Ole Miss started playing very sluggishly, allowing the Tigers to storm back to cut the lead down to two points with one minute and 40 seconds left on the clock.
Despite Missouri’s late game heroics, the Rebels squeaked by with the victory due to a few clutch free throws from guard Jaylen Murray with a final score of 84-78.
Offensive MVP: Matthew Murrell
Unsurprisingly, this win had Murrell’s fingerprints all over it. In addition to the 21 points he put up, Murrell also had six rebounds and three assists. He has been consistently exceptional all season and is a constant threat for the Rebels’ opponents.
Weird stat of the game
It looks like the Ole Miss Rebels have their own hack-a-Shaq with forward Moussa Cisse. While Cisse is an elite rebounder and paint defender, he was not too great from the free throw line, shooting 0-4. He is 10-34 on the season, which could lead many teams, especially as we enter postseason play, to take advantage of this weak spot and intentionally send Cisse to the line.
What’s next
The Rebels will hit the road once again to play the University of Georgia on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:00 p.m. CST.
