A SEC road win continues to elude No. 22 Ole Miss after loss at LSU
The Ole Miss men’s basketball team is considered a NCAA Tournament contender in Chris Beard’s first season as head coach but performances like the one at LSU on Wednesday is something the program cannot afford.
Road win, especially those within the Southeastern Conference, carry the most weight when it pertains to a team’s NCAA Tournament résumé. Banking as many of those as possible is the goal from January to March.
For No. 22 Ole Miss their bank account remains empty after losing at LSU, 89-80, for its second loss of conference play and season.
Eleven days ago the Rebels (15-2, 2-2 SEC) suffered a 26-point loss at No. 5 Tennessee but bounced back with a pair of home wins, but the road continues to be a struggle.
Oxford is a frozen tundra but Ole Miss got down to Baton Rouge and continued the cold theme with one of their worst three-point shooting efforts in conference play. The Rebels are shooting 40.1 percent from three-point range to lead the SEC heading into Wednesday but shot 25 percent (6-25) against the Tigers.
The first half also saw sloppy play from the Rebels with nine turnovers though LSU managed only eight points off them. Ole Miss was cleaner the final 20 minutes, committing only one turnover but the cold shooting created too deep a hole to get out of.
Trailing by as much as 16 points in the second half the Rebels got it back to within six points with just under six minutes to play. The LSU commenced to go on a 17-2 run over the next two-plus minutes.
For Ole Miss to secure road wins it is going to need its star playmakers for a full 40 minutes
With the late surge by the Rebels the stat line looked more like it should for Matthew Murrewll, Allen Flanigan and Jaylen “JuJu” Murray but that did not tell the whole story.
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Accounting for Ole Miss’ first nine points of the game was Murray while the rest of the offense was slow to start. Throughout the game poor shot selections that were uncharacteristic from that trio plagued the Rebels.
Murray finished with a team-high 23 points with Flanigan adding 20 points and Murrell scoring 19. Senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield has looked cold on offense the last two games after a six-game run where he scored at least 15 points a game.
Brakefield finished with 13 points and was a rebound show of a double-double, pulling down nine boards.
The road trip continues for the Rebels with another chance at a Top 25 victory this weekend.
A trip over to The Plains and No. 13 Auburn awaits Ole Miss who will try to avoid starting SEC play 0-3 on the road.
Beard noted last weekend this is an 18-round fight and the Rebels have made it through the first four rounds a little battered and bruised. A win against the Tigers on Saturday would not be a knockout blow but it could serve as a heavy haymaker shot heading closer to February
