No. 21 Ole Miss outperformed its ranking its last time out. No. 15 Mississippi State, meanwhile, has come out on the losing end against some of the best teams in the country.
The Rebels (15-2, 4-0 SEC), who defeated No. 4 Alabama 74-64 on the road, and the host Bulldogs (14-3, 2-2), who lost to No. 1 but short-handed Auburn 88-66 on Tuesday, will renew their longtime rivalry Saturday in Starkville, Miss.
Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard cautioned that “it’s early and we’re just trying to win the next game on the schedule.”
But he also noted that beating “certainly one of the best teams in college basketball,” which was in the Final Four last year, means “maybe it’s time to talk about Ole Miss.”
“I think most of the national scene didn’t give Ole Miss much of a chance,” Beard added. “Our players believed that we could be successful in this game, and that’s what we did. This is our second year at Ole Miss. We came here to build a program that can compete with teams like this, and we did more than compete.”
The Rebels were superior to the Crimson Tide in two of Alabama’s strongest areas. Alabama entered the game as the highest-scoring team in the country (91.1 points per game), but Ole Miss held it to a season-low point total, which included just 28 points in the second half.
The Tide entered the game No. 2 nationally in total rebounds and No. 8 in offensive rebounds, but the Rebels held them a season-low four offensive boards.
“If you’re going to win a big-boy game — this was a first-place type game — then you have to have some special performances,” Beard said.
The most special performance came from forward Malik Dia, who led five Ole Miss scorers in double figures, finishing with game highs of 23 points and 19 rebounds.
Ole Miss is one of just two teams undefeated in SEC play, the other being Auburn. The Tigers kept pace with the Rebels by beating Mississippi State, which lost three days after a 95-90 home loss to No. 6 Kentucky.
“We’ll find out how resilient we are,” Bulldogs coach Chris Jans said. “This is the first two-game skid that this team has had. The majority of teams in this league will go through tough stretches. It comes down to maturing and growing. But most importantly, it comes down to staying connected and believing in each other.
“We have to believe in each other and in our style of play because there are going to be some teams that don’t. Those teams will struggle. That’s going to be a big deal for us, doing all those things. We know what we have ahead of us on Saturday.”
Mississippi State hopes to have point guard Riley Kugel, one of its top reserves (9.6 points per game), after he missed the game against Auburn because of an ankle injury. In his absence, freshman Dellquan Warren saw additional minutes.
Even without leading scorer and rebounder Johni Broome (ankle), Auburn handled the Bulldogs easily, scoring the first 10 points of the game and leading by 19 at halftime and as many as 26 in the second half.
–Field Level Media
