While it could look ahead to some giant tasks remaining on its Southeastern Conference schedule, No. 24 Ole Miss has the immediate task of rebounding and taking care of the basketball better when it faces Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.
After losing to Mississippi State in Oxford — the second to their hated rivals this season — and not having a mid-week game, the Rebels (19-7, 8-5) find themselves with an intriguing quintet of contests before the conference tournament begins March 12 in the Music City.
Two are against unranked Vanderbilt (17-9, 5-8) and slumping Oklahoma. The other three require coach Chris Beard’s squad to go to No. 1 Auburn, play its home finale against No. 6 Tennessee and close the regular-season campaign at No. 2 Florida.
The nation’s leader in fewest turnovers committed (8.8 per game) slipped up with 11 against its in-state foe. However, Beard’s biggest complaint in the 81-71 loss to the Bulldogs was the same as in the first matchup: Rebounding.
Ole Miss lost the rebounding battle by 12 boards after going minus-22 in the first meeting in Starkville. Beard said his group, which is 4-2 in the past six games, needs to toughen up some.
“That’s what rebounding is,” the second-year Rebels coach said. “That’s what finishing around the basket is: Demanding the refs call fouls. I just thought we had a lot of softness to us. That’s not easy for me to say as a coach because it’s one thing we pride ourselves in.”
Lead guard Sean Pedulla tops the Rebels in scoring (14.6 points), assists (3.8) and steals (2.0), while big man Malik Dia averages 9.8 points and grabs a team-high 5.7 rebounds.
The Rebels’ time to win starts Saturday against a struggling collection of Commodores that becomes wayward and lost at sea in the second half.
Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington and his squad have learned a hard lesson in the SEC that was punctuated again Wednesday night: Winning on the road in the powerhouse conference takes a complete 40-minute effort.
In their four February games away from their Nashville campus, the Commodores either led by multiple points or trailed by one at halftime but were blown out in the second half.
At Oklahoma, they were ahead by four but outscored 61-27 in a 30-point walloping. Against Florida, they had a one-point lead but lost by 11. Staying within the Volunteer State against Tennessee proved even worse: Vanderbilt was up by 13 but blew a chance to sweep the Vols in a five-point setback.
On Wednesday, the Commodores were solid and trailed just 41-40 at the break at No. 17 Kentucky, but the Wildcats exploded in their boisterous home arena, outscoring the visitors 41-21 in yet another rout, 82-61.
So what is it about these second-half letdowns?
“I think the Oklahoma one was an anomaly. I don’t think that’s us,” Byington said after the defeat on Rocky Top. “At the same time, these teams are going to come back. They’re going to make adjustments, and they’re going to come with fury.”
Since beating No. 9 Kentucky 74-69 on Jan. 25, the Commodores have lost three straight games and five of six.
Leading scorer Jason Edwards averages 17.3 points while Devin McGlockton nets 10.9 per game and AJ Hoggard averages 10.2 points and 4.6 assists.
–Field Level Media
