Still without Daeshun Ruffin, undefeated Ole Miss basketball welcomes UT Martin

Ole Miss basketball tonight plays host to UT Martin to close out the opening home stand of the 2022-23 season. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. CT inside The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss and live on SEC Network+.

Last week the Rebels knocked off Alcorn State and Florida Atlantic. Those teams then went on to get impressive wins themselves, with the Braves defeating Wichita State on the road and the Owls taking down Florida in Gainesville last weekend.

The Rebels also has a win over Chattanooga. The Mocs were an NCAA Tournament team last March.

“There’s good teams everywhere and you got to be excited about each win that you get in college basketball. You just got to be,” fifth-year head coach Kermit Davis said. “It’s great to be 3-0. Lot to work on but saw some things, one thing we have done in three games (is) we’ve found ways to kind of really play in spurts in when we had to win games and there’s something to that.”

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the matchup, with notes provided by Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations.

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (3-0, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Kermit Davis • 5th Season at Ole Miss (67-61) • 536-324 career record (28th Season)

UT Martin Skyhawks (2-2, 0-0 OVC)
Head Coach: Ryan Ridder • 2nd Season at UT Martin (10-24) • 58-69 career record (5th Season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network+
Play-by-Play: Jake Hromada
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Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Color: Marc Dukes

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SERIES HISTORY VS. UT MARTIN

Friday marks the fifth all-time meeting between the Rebels and Skyhawks, the first since UT Martin came to Oxford during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season on Dec. 22, 2020 (W, 90-43).

Ole Miss and UT Martin first met on Dec. 16, 2001 in Southaven (W, 83-72), and again off-site in Tupelo on Dec. 21, 2004 (W, 92-64). The Skyhawks first came to Oxford on Nov. 11, 2016, when the Rebels escaped, 86-83.

The last matchup in 2020 marked the largest Ole Miss margin of victory since 2001.

LAST MEETING: Dec. 22, 2020 (W, 90-43, in Oxford)
Largest margin of victory since 2001 (+47) | Ole Miss: 59 percent shooting, nine threes made (41 percent) | Forced 20 turnovers into 26 points | Won rebounding, 45-21; outscored UT Martin 40-14 in the paint | Held Skyhawks to 30 percent shooting overall | Matthew Murrell: 13 points (then a career-high) | KJ Buffen: 16 points | Jarkel Joiner: 16 points (12 second half)

FIRST MEETING: Dec. 16, 2001 (W, 83-72, in Southaven)
Played in the DeSoto County Civic Center | Eventual NCAA Tournament team improved to 7-2 with win | Ole Miss: 30-of-38 from the free throw line | Justin Reed: 17 points | David Sanders: 14 points | Justin Johnson: 12 points

LAST TIME OUT: vs. Chattanooga (W, 70-58)
Tied 33-33 at half; 22-6 second half run helped Rebels separate | Ole Miss: season-high 53.8 percent first-half shooting; held Mocs to 32.1 in second half | Held Jake Stephens (16 points) to just three points in second half | Matthew Murrell: 25 points, 9-of-14 FG, 6-of-10 3PT, tied for team lead with 5 rebounds | Murrell: most threes by a Rebel since Devontae Shuler vs. Wichita State on Jan. 2, 2021 (6) | Sixth career 20-point game for Murrell (all within last 20 games); fourth career game with 5+ threes, seventh with 4+ threes, 12th with 3+ threes, 22nd with multiple threes, 24th in a row with at least one trifecta | TJ Caldwell: 10 points (tied career high) | Amaree Abram: 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers

MM11

Junior Matthew Murrell has wasted no time lighting the net on fire this season, picking up right where he left off last season as one of the most feared three-point shooters nationwide.

Murrell currently leads the SEC in both threes per game (4.0) and total threes made (12), while ranking 10th and 16th nationally in those categories, respectively. Murrell also ranks fifth in the SEC at 18.3 points per game, helped by two 20-point outings against Chattanooga (25) and Alcorn State (20).

Against the Mocs, Murrell drained a career-high six three-pointers — the most by a Rebel since Devontae Shuler nailed six threes against Wichita State on Jan. 2, 2021.

“You never take any win for granted,” Murrell said recently. “With how the transfer portal is, anybody can compete at this level. That’s why you see all these mid-majors beating the high majors teams. So you just got to come out everyday ready to play.

“I feel like, we’re 3-0 right now and hoping to end this 4-0 going to Orlando. Just hoping to build off that.”

His 25-point game against Chattanooga marked his sixth career 20-point outing.

All have come within his last 20 games played dating back to last season.

Murrell, a second-team All-SEC preseason selection, has hit five or more threes four times in his career. He’s also notched seven games with at least four, 12 with at least three, 22 with multiple threes, and 24 consecutive games with at least one triple made.

Murrell has been a legit scoring threat since he stepped foot on campus as Ole Miss’ highest-rated signee in program history. However, he has been especially lights-out since the start of last conference season.

Since the beginning of the 2021-22 SEC season, only Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi has more threes made in the conference with 64 trifectas to Murrell’s 55. Murrell late last year eclipsed 20 points in consecutive games for the first time in his career over his last three regular season games, averaging 22.5 points and 3.5 threes made across two strong outings vs. Texas A&M (20 points) and at No. 6 Kentucky (25 points) — a stretch in which he shot 57.7 percent overall and 53.8 percent from beyond the arc.

All four of Murrell’s career 20-point games came in SEC play last season, topped by a superb 31-point outing vs. Mississippi State on Jan. 8.

AIN’T WASTING NO TIME

With eight new faces for Ole Miss this season, the Rebel newcomers are already seeing serious minutes and have contributed to the team’s 3-0 start.

Newcomer Splits:
Minutes: 52.0% (315 of 606)
Scoring: 43.9% (98 of 223)
Rebounding: 50.4% (64 of 127)
Assists: 46.5% (20 of 43)
Steals: 54.2% (13 of 24)
Blocks: 69.2% (9 of 13)

Newcomer Scoring:
Alcorn State: 29 of 73 (39.7%)
Florida Atlantic: 36 of 80 (45.0%)
Chattanooga: 33 of 70 (47.1%)

BEST OF THE BEST

Ole Miss’ four senior transfers are among some of the best returning big men in all of college basketball.

Jayveous McKinnis stands alone as one of the best returners in the nation this year. He’s currently third in total rebounds (1,019), fourth in total blocks (234), fifth in career double-doubles (38), seventh in rebounds per game (9.5), ninth in blocks per game (2.2) and 15th in field goal shooting (.606).

McKinnis is one of just three active players in all of college basketball with 1,000 career rebounds, joining South Alabama’s Kevin Samuel (1,076) and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot (1,025). The trio is the only three players with 1,000 career points (1,086) and 1,000 career rebounds.

Ole Miss is one of three schools with multiple top-20 rebounders on the active career list.

The others are Virginia and Texas Tech.

McKinnis (1,019) and Josh Mballa (800; No. 16) combine for 1,819 career rebounds, the second-most among teammates behind Texas Tech’s 1,826 from Fardaws Almaq (918) and Kevin Obanor (908). Of the 17,859 combined career rebounds among the NCAA’s top-20 active leaders, Ole Miss accounts for 10.2 percent from McKinnis and Mballa alone. When adding in Theo Akwuba (652, No. 50), Ole Miss stands as the lone school in all divisions with more than two top-50 rebounders on the active career list.

Ole Miss also ranks highly on the career blocks list with two top-10 entries at the moment. McKinnis ranks fourth at 234 swats, while Akwuba sits eighth at 186. Combined at 420 career rejections, the Rebel duo accounts for a whopping 17.8 percent of the 2,357 career blocks among the active top-10.

Ole Miss stands as one of just two schools with multiple top-25 active blockers alongside Gardner-Webb. The Rebels are the only school with two within the top-10.

The Rebel trio of McKinnis (38, No. 5), Mballa (29, No. 13) and Akwuba (17, No. 40) combine for 84 career double-doubles. McKinnis and Mballa own the second-most by a pair of teammates with 67 behind Texas Tech’s Almaq (41) and Obanor (35) at 76.

* Note: Myles Burns’ 1,069 career rebounds while at NAIA Loyola New Orleans do not transfer over to the NCAA records lists, but would lead the nation if they did and give Ole Miss a combined 4,204 boards between Akwuba, Burns, Mballa, McKinnis and Robert Allen (647). Burns’ combined career total of 1,871 points would also rank No. 8 among all NCAA divisions at the moment.

A RUFF GO OF IT

Ruffin missed the final month of the season last year, and he will have to wait a bit longer to make his 2022-23 debut.

Last month Ruffin suffered a minor bone bruise that has forced him out of the first three games of the season.

Davis said on Tuesday Ruffin is “week-to-week.”

“(Ruffin) won’t play on Friday,” Davis said. “Everything is improving. I’ll emphasize again, all the ligaments are great. It’s just this bone bruise. It’s getting better. So, we’ll keep our fingers crossed for Orlando but he won’t be available for Friday night.”

Ruffin tore his ACL last season at LSU.

Prior to his February injury, however, his heroic individual effort helped the Rebels earn their second AP Top-25 win of the year.

Ruffin led Ole Miss with 19 points against the Tigers, and he added three assists and two steals. He was 6 for 11 from the field, 2 for 4 from three and a perfect 5 for 5 streak at the free throw line in his 20 minutes of playing time.

Ruffin had been electric since returning from an eight-game absence due to a broken right hand suffered in last year’s season opener against New Orleans.

“I’m still playing my game,” Murrell said on Tuesday.

Murrell leads Ole Miss in scoring with 18.3 points per game. He’s the only Rebel averaging in double figures, with the next closest being Robert Allen (9.3 ppg).

Murrell added, “I credit guys like TJ (Caldwell) and Amaree (Abram) stepping up to play the one spot. I feel like they’re helping fill that role. When Ruffin comes back I feel like my play style, I feel like he’s going to make it easier. He creates off the dribble and stuff so he’ll just make my game easier.”

Ruffin averaged a team-high 2.3 steals per game on the season.

He led the Rebels with a 52-of-69 (.754) clip from the charity stripe. He averaged 12.6 points, 3.4 assists and 1.5 rebounds.

In SEC-only action, Ruffin was second in the conference in steals (2.7/game), ninth in free throw shooting (.833) and 10th in assists (3.9/game). He was named SEC Freshman of the Week – the first such honor by a Rebel since Jarvis Summers in 2011.

Ruffin earned the nod off an excellent three-game stretch in January, when he averaged 16.0 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals. He shot .792 (19 of 24) from the free throw line, at one point hitting 14 in a row. He scored a career-high 21 points against Florida, 15 of which came in the second half.

Ruffin has scored double-digit points in 10 of 14 career games play. He’s scored 15 or more in six and has had multiple steals in nine.

Ruffin was on pace to break Elston Turner’s 1978 record for steals by a freshman (47). He was the first McDonald’s All-American signed out of high school in program history.