LOOK: A transfer takeover and good Juju had Ole Miss cooking in Fayetteville
Three one-and-done Ole Miss basketball transfers led the Rebels to their first win over Arkansas in nearly a decade on Wednesday.
Malik Dia, formerly of Belmont, earned some trust from second-year Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard with a team-high 21 points. Sean Pedulla (Virginia Tech) and Dre Davis (Seton Hall) had 16 and 10, respectively.
All signed in an off-season transfer class ranked No. 16 nationally by On3. Ole Miss overcame a slow start for the 73-66 win.
“We just had a lot of poise tonight,” Beard said afterwards. “We knew the crowd was going to be a factor (and) kept Arkansas from having too many runs. They’re an explosive team that can kind of knock you out in four-minute segments. We had some good possessions on offense and defense when the crowd was kind of getting ready to erupt. And I thought just team performance.
“If you want to win in this league, you’ve got to have some ‘A’ performances. I already mentioned Matt (Murrell) and Dre stepping in the second half. Dia obviously had a big game. Juju (Murray) had six assists and only one turnover. Pedulla controlled it.
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“Just had contributions from everybody. Every player that played tonight for Ole Miss brought a positive contribution to the game.”
RELATED: Everything Chris Beard said after Ole Miss’ first win at Arkansas in a decade
The No. 22-ranked Rebels are now 13-2 (2-0 SEC) on the season.
They held Arkansas (11-4, 0-2) to just 37.3 percent shooting (22-59) from the floor. The Razorbacks entered play ninth in the NCAA in field-goal percentage (50.7). Ole Miss is 8-0 this season when holding opponents under 40 percent.
The Rebels only committed five turnovers. Ole Miss is eighth nationally in turnovers per game (9.3). Juju Murray came off the bench and had a season-high six rebounds to go with his six assists to only two turnovers.
Murray was one of four Rebels with six or more rebounds. Davis tied his season-high with seven.
The included game highlights and photos were provided by Ole Miss Athletics.
Ja’Von Benson
Matthew Murrell
John Bol
Malik Dia
Dre Davis
Matthew Murrell
Robert Cowherd, Cam Brent, Malik Dia and Sean Pedulla
Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard
Sean Pedulla and Juju Murray
Malik Dia
Sean Pedulla
Eduardo Klafke
