Skid hits three straight SEC losses for No. 16 Ole Miss after loss at No. 22 Missouri
Ole Miss men’s basketball team has lost a game in overtime, by a shot in the final 13 seconds and Saturday’s most recent setback might be the most troubling of three.
The No. 16-ranked Rebels fell at No. 22 Missouri, 83-75, in a way that should cause concern moving forward. Whatever they used to beat No. 4 Alabama nearly two weeks ago has not been seen since.
A fast 8-0 start by Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) in the first two minutes was quickly answered by a 12-0 run by the Tigers (16-4, 5-2) and from there the home team controlled everything.
Rebounding continues to be an issue, one that might not get fixed this season and is what it is, while turnovers also still plague the Rebels with 13 to lead to 13 Missouri points. Of course the Tigers committed 16 and the Rebels scored 18 points off of them, so that stat kind of washes out.
Three-point defense was also the problem with the Tigers shooting 44 percent (11-25) from the perimeter. Guards Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates combined for 10 of those made three-point shot and 51 points.
“They had two special performances,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said postgame. “Bates and Grill had special games. I think if those guys go 9-for-15 from the three-point line between them I don’t think they’ll lose many games in the SEC.
“Those are two of the best players in the league. They had A-plus performances tonight and it was just a little bit too much for us to overcome.”
The Rebels were short-handed in the game with a less than 100 percent Matthew Murrell and without Dre Davis, who is dealing with an upper-extremity injury according to an Ole Miss spokesman.
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Murrell, who was a game-time decision, got the start but was a non-factor the first half, scoring all 12 of his points in the second half and eight of those in the final two minutes when the game was already out of hand.
“Obviously a little undermanned tonight. …We knew we were going to have to some special things going in the game being a man short,” Beard said. “We just didn’t get it done.”
Free-three attempt disparity for a second-straight game with Missouri shooting twice as many than the Rebels. The Tigers went 28-39 from the charity stripe while the Rebels went 13-18. Fouls were not the issue as the differential was only five between the two teams. The issue was The Tigers being more aggressive and driving to the lane to try and force a foul off a shot.
Ole Miss rarely drove to the post and when it did it usually ended in a pass back out or a turnover when guards Sean Pedulla and Jaylen “JuJu” Murray had nowhere to go once down there and no teammates to get the ball to.
“The free-throw differential is just too much to overcome,” Beard added. “Took more than twice as many free throws as us. Have to look at that from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint, but really hard to win in the SEC when the opponent shoots more than twice as many free throws than you.”
Malik Dia led Ole Miss with 17 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double. Pedulla finished with 15 points followed by Jaemyn Brakefield’s 14 points.
The Rebels return to action on Wednesday when they host Texas at 8 p.m. CT.
