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Got Defensive: A down-bad Ole Miss flipped its lineup and nearly clawed back at South Carolina

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•02/06/24•

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Ole Miss was shooting 66 percent from the floor as a team 10 minutes into its Top 15 road showdown at South Carolina.

Good, right?

The Rebels trailed by double-digit points. Their defense was THAT bad.

Actually, it took Ole Miss well into the second half to come up with any answers for the red-hot Gamecocks, who’d entered the night as one of college basketball’s best stories and hottest teams. The Rebels trailed by as many as 17 points.

They simply could not get regular stops. In response, first-year head coach Chris Beard went with his best defensive lineup: Austin Nunez, Brandon Murray, Matthew Murrell, Allen Flanigan and Jamarion Sharp. All but Sharp — the tallest player in the country at 7-foot-5 — are guards and 6-6 or shorter.

Ole Miss rallied.

Flanigan had already secured his seventh 20-point game of the season, but his 10th successful shot in 11 attempts pulled the Rebels within three at 61-58. Around seven minutes remained in regulation.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to finish off the comeback — one that would have undoubtedly boosted their strong, if flawed, NCAA Tournament resume. Ole Miss went scoreless for two minutes. The Rebels missed eight of their last nine shots. South Carolina couldn’t score either, but the Gamecocks ultimately went up five and bled the clock for a 68-65 win.

Still, the Rebels (18-5, 5-5 SEC) may have learned something important about themselves as they make their final, mad-dash sprint for the postseason. South Carolina made 62.1 percent (18 for 29) of its shots in the first half, but just 32.3 percent (10 for 31) in the second.

“No adjustments, just trying to get back to what the original game plan was supposed to be,” Beard said. ESPN had Ole Miss in its ‘Last Four Byes’ in its latest NCAA Tournament projections. “This is a hard offense to guard because they play with patience and they’ll work that clock all the way to the end. We wanted to try to be the most aggressive team tonight.

“I thought the first half we didn’t do that. Different in the second half, and that’s why we got it back to a one-possession game that really, in my mind, came down to the last call of the game. Or no-call.”

Beard was referencing a late-game three-point miss by fourth-year senior guard Matthew Murrell.

Murrell finished with 17 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Flanigan, a transfer from Auburn, had a game-high 26. He made 11 of 15 from the field and 4 of 6 from the free throw line. Ole Miss shot 50.9 percent (28 for 55) on twos and 4 for 10 (40 percent) on threes.

Sharp, a transfer from Western Kentucky, returned to action after sitting out the Rebels’ loss to No. 16 Auburn on Saturday with an illness. He had six points and three blocks for the 11th time this season.

South Carolina improved to 20-3 (8-2) overall and have won six straight. Included in the streak is a pair of wins over No. 6 Kentucky and No. 5 Tennessee. 

Ole Miss, meanwhile, has dropped its last two. The Rebels are 0-4 against Top 25 opponents and next travel to No. 17 Kentucky. Tipoff on Saturday is set for at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.

“Congratulate South Carolina on a good home-court SEC win,” Beard said. “A lot of respect for the coach (Lamont Paris) and the program he’s building here Year 2. They’re really good.”

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