Ole Miss at Vanderbilt: How to watch, start time, TV channel, spread

Chris Beard wasn’t a fan of the newly-instituted college basketball bye week at first. Then No. 24 Ole Miss lost to in-state rival Mississippi State.

Beard, who’s in his second season as head coach of the Rebels, hasn’t necessarily come around to the new rule. But Ole Miss needed some time to decompress and reenergize before the final stretch. 

Ole Miss is 19-7 overall and 8-5 in the SEC. Next is a road trip to Vanderbilt (17-9, 5-8) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.

The Rebels are firmly projected to make the NCAA Tournament. But they have to start playing like a postseason team again, especially after they were whipped on their home floor by the Bulldogs.

“I like it now, just like I”m sure any coach would like it now because of the physical rest,” Beard said this week. “We’ve got guys that are banged up. I’m not so much in the mental deal. I actually respectfully disagree with guys even on our staff. The season gets long and all this, well, no shit. This is what it is. If you want to eat, don’t complain about everything that’s on your plate. If you want to be a part of this, if you want to be relevant and you want to be a team that can make a run in March, then what do you think February is? This is the time where, yeah, it’s demanding, but this is what you want.”

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Ole Miss as a 6-seed in March Madness. 

The Rebels have been to the ‘Big Dance’ just nine times in their 100-plus-year history. A win over the Commodores would secure just the 19th 20-win season in program history and second in a row. 

Ole Miss last went back-to-back with 20 wins from 2015-17. The Rebels’ current run of 13 straight weeks in the AP Top 25 is their longest since the 1997-98 campaign.

“Trying to remind the guys that you signed up for this,” Beard said. “To my knowledge no player on our team’s family made them play basketball. Nobody’s saying this is your only path in life; it’s actually quite the opposite. We’ve got some bright, intelligent dudes in that locker room that could succeed in anything they chose to do, but what they chose is basketball. They’re going to try to make it living and playing this game after college basketball. With that comes the responsibility of doing what you said you want to do.

“To find that joy this time of year (got to find) that competitiveness and kind of swag. We all understand the urgency of the moment and what we’re playing for. Just trying to get the guys to be in the moment and understand this is a chance to play at this level and on this stage for high stakes. 

“Let’s don’t forget these are the ones you’re going to remember years from now.”

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HOW TO WATCH

Television/Online: SEC Network
Play-by-Play: Dave Neal
Analyst: Pat Bradley

HOW TO LISTEN

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Analyst: Marc Dukes

SERIES HISTORY 

Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are meeting for the 129th time in history — in a series dating back to 1925 and Vanderbilt leads, 79-49. 

The Commodores are 51-11 in Nashville, though the Rebels hold a slight, 6-4 advantage over the last 10 teams. They last faced off last January. Ole Miss shot nearly 60 percent from the field to lead by nine at half en route to a 69-59 win. Matthew Murrell had 24 points, six made 3s, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

GAME SPREAD

A line hasn’t been set yet for the game, but Ole Miss is 14-12-0 against the spread this season, while Vanderbilt is 15-11-0.

Ole Miss features one of the best statistical defenses in the nation and is giving up 68.9 points per game. The Rebels are 10-8 ATS, and 17-1 overall, when they give up 79.7 points or less. 

They’re 13-4 ATS and 13-4 overall when they scored more than 72.9 points.

SCOUTING VANDERBILT

Vanderbilt’s postseason resume includes non-conference wins over Cal, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech and TCU. The Commodores have taken down LSU, South Carolina, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 9 Kentucky and Texas in SEC play. 

They’re currently 10th in the SEC and projected or the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt is No. 44 in the NET, while Ole Miss is No. 24.

North Texas transfer Jason Edwards leads the Commodores and is sixth in the SEC in points per game (17.6). He’s shooting 45.3 percent from the field this season, the ninth-best mark in the conference.

Devin McGlockton is Vanderbilt’s top rebounder (7.9), while AJ Hoggard is averaging the third-most assists per game (4.6) in the SEC.

Vanderbilt is second in the SEC and 11th nationally in turnover margin (+4.6). Ole Miss is leads the league and is third-best in all of college basketball at +6.0. The Commodores are third in the SEC and 20th in the NCAA in steals (9.2 per game). 

Mark Byington is in his first season as Vanderbilt head coach. League media in the preseason picked the Commodores to finish last in the SEC. Byington spent four years at James Madison before taking over in Nashville. JMU was 32-4 in 2023-24, highlighted by an upset win over 5-seed Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament. The Dukes were one of just three teams (another was Ole Miss) to open the year 13-0. 

Byington was head coach at Georgia Southern for seven seasons prior to JMU. He was the interim head coach at College of Charleston in 2011-12.