WATCH: Condensed game + postgame sound after Ole Miss’ statement win over Memphis
For the casual or average recruitnik, Saint Peter’s point guard Jaylen Murray was little more than a bit player in Ole Miss’ headline-grabbing travails through the NCAA Transfer Portal in the off-season.
But for Chris Beard and his first-year Rebel roster, he was the final, missing, had-to-have-it piece. And he showed why in the Rebels’ impressive, 80-77 win over rival Memphis on Saturday.
Murray scored a team-high 22 points, including seven in the game’s final two minutes, to lift Ole Miss to its first 7-0 start since 2007-08. Murray had a career-high nine assists. He made six threes in a single game for the third time.
Memphis fell to 5-2. The Tigers came into play already holding notable wins over Michigan, Arkansas and Missouri. Both the Rebels and Tigers received votes in this week’s round of Top 25 polls.
“If you look at our teams the last few years, we’ve had some really good players from the portal,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said in his postgame press conference. He was answering a question specifically about Murray, who made 50 percent (7 for 14) of his shots and four of his six threes in the win.
Beard pulled Murray from the portal in May over Seton Hall, Richmond and few others.
Beard added, “With JuJu, I was really impressed when I started watching him play. Watched him play for several days — just game after game after game. Just convinced he could be a really good player the SEC. We’ll see.
“It’s early-season, guys. We’ll see. But I do have confidence in JuJu’s talent, and I’m starting to trust him more as the season goes on. He’s a talented player. Felt like we got the right guy.”
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Murray was one of three Rebels to score double-digit points against Memphis.
The Rebels had two 20-point scorers (the other was fourth-year senior guard Matthew Murrell) in a single game for the first time this season.
Ole Miss scored 50 points in the second half, its most in two years, to overcome a second-half Memphis lead that got as high as 11. Moussa Cisse made his season debut after receiving NCAA clearance this week. He had two points, five rebounds and a block in limited action.
Cisse was playing against his former team. He signed with Memphis as a five-star prospect out of high school. He later transferred to Oklahoma State.
“Moussa impacted the game tonight,” Beard said. “He’s just going to keep getting better and better and better. He did exactly what was expected of him tonight. He impacted the game in the role that he had.”
Ole Miss next hosts Mount St. Mary’s Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. Here’s everything Beard and Murray had to say after the game.
