Jaemyn Brakefield caps home playing career with storybook ending in Ole Miss' win over No. 4 Tennessee
During Tuesday’s practice seniors Jaemyn Brakefield and Matthew Murrell got into what they called a “confrontation.” If that moment does not happen the Ole Miss men’s basketball team probably does not make history on Wednesday.
In what was the final game inside the SJB Pavilion for both Brakefield and Murrell the Rebels beat No. 4 Tennessee 78-76 to secure the program’s first season with wins over two Top 5 teams.
Whatever happened when Brakfield and Murrell butted heads fueled what transpired in the final 20 minutes of the game when the former played his best basketball in an Ole Miss jersey.
Brakefield attempted one shot in the first half, missing it, but commenced to score a game-high 19 points in the second half and put his team on his back in a proper send-off to his playing career in Oxford.
Over a five-minute stretch Brakefield accounted for 15 of the Rebels 17 points scored. To cap off the storybook ending he scored the game-winning basket with a putback off a missed three-point shot by Sean Pedulla with seven seconds left.
“It was the confidence poured into me by the men around me,” Brakefield said. “They know that as a team we’re prepared and they’ve gotten me ready. Just knowing that they trusted me in those moments, I trusted that they trusted me as well.”
Back to the “confrontation,” as Brakefield described it. Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard called it one of his top 10 moments as a coach.
Murrell and Brakefield are and were the foundation of this rebuild under Beard. They were two of the three guys to stay during the coaching change from Kermit Davis to Beard. Robert Cowherd being the third.
The last five years has seen the duo become closer than teammates and more like brothers. Which is why Tuesday’s collision at practice was one that was coming and one both came out closer on the other end of it, fueling Wednesday’s result.
“We were both on the same page, but we were saying two different things,” Brakefield said. “At the end of the day we were all on the page and that’s what (we were trying to do). We were trying to get everybody else on the same page.”
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Ole Miss was on the same paragraph, page and book on Wednesday.
A similar effort in the win over then-No. 4 Alabama and the first half against Kentucky is what the Rebels (21-9, 10-7 Southeastern Conference) showed against the Volunteers (24-6, 11-6).
Ole Miss out-rebounded Tennessee 24-13, winning the offensive rebound battle 11-2, in the final 20 minutes. The most lop-sided rebounded effort by the Rebels against a SEC opponent this season.
Despite going 0-8 from three-point range in the second half the Rebels shot 46.2 percent (18-39) to Tennessee’s 44 percent (11-25).
“It took a team effort,” Beard said. “It took balanced scoring. Dre Davis’ double-double, timely offensive rebounds. Brakefield, played really with a lot courage down the stretch. Then we got some key stops late. I thought our coaching staff did a good job tonight. It’s always a chess game when you play against coach (Rick) Barnes. We held our own.”
Davis finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Malik Dia scored 13 points and Murrell finished with 12 points.
Ole Miss wraps up the regular season at No. 5 Florida (26-4, 13-4) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. The Gators are coming off a 99-94 victory over No. 7 Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday.
