On3 Things to Know: Ole Miss is looking for its first SEC winning streak of the season

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team got back to its winning ways on Tuesday with a key road victory at Georgia. Now it is trying to do something it has not been able to do all conference season.

With South Carolina coming to Oxford on Saturday, Ole Miss has the chance to get not only its third Southeastern Conference victory on the year but also the first SEC winning streak of the season.

When the Rebels (10-14, 2-9 SEC) beat the Gamecocks in Columbia back on Jan. 17 they then commenced to go on a five-game losing skid. Four of those games were during SEC play and the fifth was to Oklahoma State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Now, Ole Miss has broken through once again and gotten the winning vibes back in the locker room. It is time to see if they have been carried back to Oxford for the first SEC home win of the season.

“We talked about winning February,” said Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis after Tuesday’s game. “That’s about the seventh SEC game like this that we could sit back and look and have four or five more wins, but we don’t. Any of these wins are great. Now, we’re 1-1 in February. We go back home to [face] South Carolina on Saturday. You’re just trying, for the first time, to win back-to-back games and get some momentum and get to feeling good. Just a happy locker room right there for a must-needed win on the road.”

Lets take a closer look at the upcoming matchup, with game notes provided by Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations.

SERIES HISTORY VS. SOUTH CAROLINA

The two programs will meet for the 46th time ever and second time this season, after Ole Miss picked up a 70-58 win in Columbia on January 17. The programs first met in December of 1960, when South Carolina defeated Ole Miss 85-79.

After joining the SEC in 1991, the two began regularly meeting with the Rebels defeating the Gamecocks 76-61 in February of 1992. Overall, the Rebels lead the all-time series 24-21, and are 6-4 over the last 10 meetings. Under head coach Kermit Davis, the Rebels have won four compared to South Carolina’s two.

LAST MEETING: JANUARY 17, 2023 (W, 70-58, COLUMBIA, S.C.)

• The Ole Miss defense held South Carolina to just 20 points on 30.0 percent shooting in the first half to take a 30-20 advantage into the break, before winning by 12.
• For the first time on the season (now one of three), Ole Miss connected on 10 three pointers, led by five from Matthew Murrell who finished with a game-best 23 points and career-high nine rebounds.
• Jayveous McKinnis recorded his 39th career double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.

SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS

South Carolina enters Saturday’s game with a record of 8-16 overall and 1-10 in conference. They’ve picked up wins over South Carolina State, Clemson, USC Upstate, Georgetown, Presbyterian, Western Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, and Kentucky. They come to Oxford on an eight-game losing streak, having recently fallen to Arkansas by just two on February 4, and Missouri 83-74 on February 7. Their lone victory in SEC play against Kentucky came on the road, as they defeated the Wildcats 71-68 in Rupp Arena.

The Gamecocks rank sixth in the conference and 30th in the nation in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 12.4 per outing. They also rank in the top-100 in three-point attempts per game, averaging 23.9 shots from deep per game, the 88th-most in college basketball.

Their offense runs through highly touted freshman Gregory “GG” Jackson, as he ranks fifth in the SEC in points per game at a 16.1 average. He also ranks among the top-10 in conference in field goal attempts (358, No. 1 SEC and No. 33 NCAA), made field goals (141, No. 4 SEC), rebounds per game (6.5, No. 9 SEC), field goal percentage (39.4%, No. 9 SEC), and minutes per game (No. 9 SEC, 32:43).

20-20 VISION

On February 7 at Georgia, Jaemyn Brakefield and Myles Burns each hit the 20-point mark in the Rebels’ 78-74 road victory. Coming off the first double-double of his career at Vanderbilt, Brakefield led Ole Miss with a career-high 24 points on 11-15 shooting, adding seven rebounds and tying his season-best with four assists.

Burns loaded the box score with a season-high 20 points as well as six rebounds, an assist, two steals, and a block. This was the first game Ole Miss had two hit the 20-point threshold since January 24, 2022, when Matthew Murrell (20 points) and Daeshun Ruffin (21 points) did so in a 70-54 win over Florida.

BLOCK PARTY

The Ole Miss defense currently averages 68.2 points allowed per game, only letting their opponents top 70 points eight times this year. A major part of their defensive identity has been enforcing the paint, as the Rebels rank 36th in the country in blocks per game (4.6). They are led down low by senior transfers Theo Akwuba (30 total blocks, 1.3 per game) and Jayveous McKinnis (27 total blocks, 1.2 per game).

On January 3 at No. 7 Alabama, Akwuba and McKinnis combined for seven blocks, with Akwuba’s four bringing his collegiate career total to 200 (now at 212). He and McKinnis (259 career blocks) are the only two teammates in college basketball with over 200 swats in their careers, and each rank among the top-10 in active career leaders.

THEM REBS MOVE FAST

Ole Miss has been quick to react on defensive rebounds and turnovers, outscoring their opponents on fast-break opportunities by 82 this season (243-161). The Rebels has recorded more fast-break points than the other team in 17 of their 24 games.