Ole Miss' non-conference schedule filled with early season neutral site tests
The goal in year two of the Chris Beard era is to get to the NCAA Tournament and end a long stretch of missing out on the postseason.
This is the goal every season, but after not reaching the tournament last year that goal is emphasized for the 2024-25 season. With the release of the non-conference schedule that point is then underscored.
On Monday Ole Miss revealed its dates for non-conference games and there are a handful at neutral sites with top opponents. Those neutral site games will look good to the NCAA Tournament selection committee come mid-March if they all or a majority of them are wins.
The first of those is a game at the Landers Center in Southaven against Colorado State on November 16. This will mark the first time in 10 years Ole Miss has played a game in Southaven, something Beard acknowledged he wanted to accomplish early in his tenure in Oxford.
Thanksgiving weekend will provide the biggest early season tests with the Randy Children’s Invitational Tournament in San Diego. The Rebels will play two games with potential opponents being Purdue, North Carolina State or BYU.
“We’re playing in one of, if not the best, preseason MTE (multiple team event) with Purdue North Carolina State, two Final Four teams,” Beard said of the schedule earlier this month. “Then BYU is going to be really good this year just on talent alone on their roster. For us to be in a four-team MTE with those teams is exactly what we were looking for.”
In December Ole Miss returns to Biloxi for its last nuetral site game of the schedule with a return game against Southern Mississippi. Last season the two teams met at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum with the Rebels emerging victorious.
Throughout the offseason Ole Miss has been in the way-too-early bracket projections due to roster movies.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has put the Rebels in the field of 68 since he started his offseason monthly updates to his tournament projections.
The latest one, released on July 30, has Ole Miss in the West Region (San Francisco) as the 9 Seed. The Rebels are in a quadrant that includes No. 1 Seed UConn as the host team in Providence, Rhode Island for First and Second Round games, taking on No. 16 Seed Colgate. Ole Miss is playing No. 8 Seed BYU.
Roster moves are also being taken noticed by other national outlets. On Tuesday The Field of 68 ranked Ole Miss with the 19th best backcourt due to having Jaylen ‘JuJu’ Murray and Matthew Murrell back along with transfer additions of Sean Pedulla and Davon Barnes.
Below is the full 2024-25 non-conference schedule for Ole Miss:
- November 4 – LIU Brooklyn
- November 8 – Grambling State
- November 12 – South Alabama (Tad Pad Throwback Game)
- November 16 – Colorado State (at Southaven)
- November 21 – Oral Roberts
- November 28 – Rady Children’s Invitational Tournament (San Diego)
- November 29 – Rady Children’s Invitational Tournament (San Diego)
- December 3 – at Louisville (SEC/ACC Challenge)
- December 7 – Lindenwood
- December 14 – Southern Mississippi (at Biloxi)
- December 17 – Southern
- December 21 – Queens
- December 28 – at Memphis
