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Ole Miss men’s basketball in fight in February but also sputtering at worst possible time

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•02/24/24•

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Ole Miss center Moussa Cisse

Ole Miss men’s basketball went into the weekend on the outside looking in for the projected field of 64 for the NCAA Tournament.

But any postseason boost the Rebels were hoping to get against No. 20 South Carolina on Saturday was spoiled by their fifth loss (72-59) in their last six games.

Ole Miss fell to 19-8 overall and 6-8 in SEC games. The Rebels get SEC-leading No. 11 Alabama next Wednesday. Ole Miss matched the program’s best-ever start (13-0) to open the season. However, the Rebels have stumbled since the calendar flipped to January and they opened their SEC slate.

They were as low as college basketball’s No. 71 team in ESPN’s latest round of bracketology.

Make no mistake; it’s an improvement on last season, when Ole Miss was the worst team in the conference. But a disappointment, too, considering where they were. Ole Miss, at one point, was ranked in Top 25 polls for the first time since 2019. 

RELATED: Jaemyn Brakefield leaves game with injury in loss to South Carolina

Now the Rebels are sputtering at the time they need to be peaking.

South Carolina swept the series (2-0) with the Rebels this season.

“It’s a hurt locker room right now,” first-year Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said in his postgame press conference. “We had a couple of good days of practice. Our guys were emotionally attached to this game. 

“Our objective, year one, has always been to be part of the (NCAA Tournament) fight. There’s a lot of teams in college basketball right now that aren’t part of the fight; teams that are already talking about their conference tournament or this and that. 

“That’s not us. I think our players deserve all the credit for the kind of season we’ve had to this point. It’s late-February and we’re in the fight.”

RELATED: Ole Miss guard Allen Flanigan ejected in second half vs. South Carolina for elbow

Ole Miss leading scorer Matthew Murrell was in foul trouble for most of the game, which hamstrung the Rebels offensively. 

Still, they scored 37 of their total points in the second half, and Murrell found a way to move up to No. 18 in school history for career points (1,386). Fellow Ole Miss senior Jaemyn Brakefield surpassed the 1,000-point mark in the loss.

Moussa Cisse had a season-best 13 points, six rebounds and five blocks. B.J. Mack led South Carolina with 17 points. Zachary Davis had 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds. 

Ole Miss and Alabama tip off on February 28 at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Here’s everything Beard had to say after Ole Miss’ loss to South Carolina.

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