The Ole Miss men’s basketball team has once again defeated a top-ranked SEC team. The Rebels took down No. 10 Missouri, 80-59, on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The Rebels are now on a three-game winning streak after taking down Tennessee and Auburn last week.
Ole Miss is now 11-8 overall this season with an even six wins and six losses in the conference. Mizzou is 13-4 on the season with six wins and four losses in the conference.
Three Rebels hit double-digits in scoring and eight out of the nine Rebels who saw the floor scored. Junior Jarkel Joiner led the team with 21 points, three rebounds and three assists. SEC player of the week Devontae Shuler had 15 points with two rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Luis Rodriguez added 15 points of his own and had six rebounds and one assist.
Coming off of the bench, junior KJ Buffen had nine points, six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Sammy Hunter put up another four points, three rebounds and one assist.
“Just what can you say,” Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis said in a press conference. “(We) had a couple days of great preparation. The big key was on the rebounds and assist. We ran a good offense and beat a really good team. Now, we have to turn our attention to South Carolina.”
Ole Miss took complete control on the boards with 34 rebounds, nine of which were offensive, and the team kept Missouri to 19 rebounds. While the Rebels have averaged only 12.9 assists per game this season, the team tallied 21 assists against the Missouri Tigers, which made a huge impact for Ole Miss offensively. In addition, the Rebels outscored the Tigers 28-18 in the paint and 12-8 on second-chance points.
Ole Miss led the entire game, which fans are not used to seeing. In the past two games, the Rebels have had to crawl their way back from behind to win, but not during the performance against Missouri.
Offensively, Ole Miss shot 56.9% from the field and 82.4% from the line while limiting Missouri to shooting just 48.9% from the field and 33.3% from the line. Buffen had two blocks, and Hunter had one to help keep Mizzou’s offense under control. The Rebels forced 12 turnovers in total and scored nine points from them.
The Rebels now look to lengthen their winning streak to four as they head to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks at 5 p.m. this Saturday. The game will air live on the SEC Network.
