Ole Miss upends rival Mississippi State, guard Matthew Murrell says 'ceiling is limitless'

Ole Miss squeezed out a key win over rival Mississippi State on Tuesday night, winning 86-82 after holding on in the final moments at the Pavilion.

The Rebels threatened to blow the Bulldogs out a couple times, only for the game to tighten up again as it came down to the wire. Ole Miss isn’t quite where it wants to be under first-year coach Chris Beard, but it’s getting there.

“Normally his team is defensive, that’s something we’re still getting at,” star guard Matthew Murrell said after the game on the SEC Network. “It’s just a plus that we’re offensively good at the moment. We’re hoping to get the defense coming along and we’ll be even more better.”

Offensively good is putting it mildly. A handful of Ole Miss players were absolutely on fire in the game.

Guard Jaylen Murray led the way with 21 points, which included four 3-pointers made. Murrell was right behind, scoring 20 points with three 3-pointers made. Guard TJ Caldwell chipped in 18, while forward Jaemyn Brakefield scored 10 to round out the list of double-figure scorers.

“I want to give a special shoutout to TJ Caldwell, I felt like he played one of the biggest games of the season,” Murrell said. “He helped us down the stretch. And Jaylen Murray has always stepped up for us and everybody was able to come together and make big plays.”

As far as points of emphasis in the game, Ole Miss mostly just worked to keep Mississippi State from catching the ball cleanly.

“We felt like we did that at times down the stretch but we need to do it consistently,” Murrell said. “They had other players come down and make plays but ultimately we was able to defend and make more plays down the stretch.”

The game went down to the wire, with Mississippi State getting a chance to tie it up trailing 84-82 with two shots from the free-throw stripe and just four seconds remaining. But forward Cameron Matthews missed the first shot, forcing him to try to miss the second intentionally. He airballed it, effectively ending the game.

It was a huge win for a record crowd in the Pavilion.

“Man, I feel like anybody that plays in the state of Mississippi wants to be on the winning end of this competition,” Murrell said. “We’re excited to be on the winning side. It was a close game. I’m pretty sure all the fans watching enjoyed it. We just appreciate everyone for coming out.”

The win moved Ole Miss to 18-3 on the season, as well as 5-3 in conference play. But the best is yet to come, Murrell said.

“I feel like our ceiling is limitless,” he said. “We hope to be playing our best basketball in the month of February and March and April. We feel like we’re headed that way.”