No. 25 Ole Miss heads to the beach for Biloxi showdown against Southern Mississippi

Before Chris Beard and the No. 25-ranked Ole Miss men’s basketball team can enjoy a little downtime for the holidays they have the penultimate tune up before Southeastern Conference play begins.

The undefeated Rebels (11-0) take their winning streak on the road to the Mississippi coast to take on Southern Mississippi (6-5) in Biloxi inside the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Saturday. Tip off is at 1 p.m. CT and can only be heard on the Ole Miss Radio Network as the game will not be televised or streamed.

A win will give Ole Miss its second best start to a season in program history, behind the 13-0 start in the 2007-08 campaign

This is the second neutral site game on the schedule for Ole Miss who won its first such game last Saturday, beating California in San Antonio. Though this game will have more of a rivalry feel with plenty of fans from each team expected to make the trip to the beach.

When it comes to building on the NCAA Tournament résumé Saturday’s game does not do much to bolster the Rebels postseason chances but it is one of those games that can serve as a bad loss. In the latest Net Rankings released on Friday the Golden Eagles were sitting at No. 255 out of 362 rated teams.

Ole Miss enters this weekend’s game sitting at No. 57, finally cracking the Top 60 this week after its win over the Golden Bears.

The Rebels hold a 18-6 advantage over Southern Mississippi in the overall series. In games played in a neutral setting they hold a 5-2 edge over the Golden Eagles. Each team holds a win in the two previous games played in Biloxi.

“I think a big part of Ole Miss is taking the brand to other places in our great state,” said Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard after Tuesday’s win over Troy. “We’re proud to go to Biloxi this season. Looking forward to seeing all the Ole Miss people and alumni, fans down on the coast.

“Obviously we have a lot of respect for Southern Miss and what (head coach) Jay (Ladner) has done there. So it should be a great college basketball game between two schools from the state of Mississippi.”

Ole Miss should be at full strength for a third straight game if one of Beard’s seven-footers is available.

Moussa Cisse went down in the first two minutes of Tuesday’s game and looked to have suffered a knee or lower leg injury to his right leg.

Cisse returned to the bench after two trips to the locker room sandwiched around some time on the courtside exercise bike. Beard opted to not play him in the second half despite Cisse being “cleared,” according to the first-year Ole Miss coach.

There has not been any update in the three days since Cisse suffered the injury but all signs from Beard pointed to it not being a long-term issue as preliminary tests showed no structural damage.

While Cisse might but unavailable, Brandon Murray will be after earning eligibility status last weekend due to a court ruling in favor of two-time transfer players. Through two games Murray is averaging 3.5 points, two rebounds and two steals a game off the bench. He is averaged 16 minutes against the Bears and Trojans.

“I think it’s going to be a process getting Brandon back and lots of positive not only in game time but also in practice,” Beard said after the Troy game. “He was practicing with the team but it’s just different when all of the sudden he knew he could play. We’re starting to see an elevated performance from him in practice.”