LSU got its first victory in two months in its last game.

Ole Miss couldn’t stop its slide soon enough to prevent the firing of head coach Kermit Davis.

The Rebels (10-18, 2-13 SEC), who have lost 15 of their last 17 games, fired Davis on Friday and will face LSU on Saturday night in Oxford, Miss.

Davis said he was “proud of our team” after a 78-74 loss at Auburn in his last game Wednesday night. “They keep fighting the good fight.”

On Saturday the Rebels will fight under assistant coach Win Case, who was named acting head coach. The school said it will conduct a national search for Davis’ successor.

Case coached Oklahoma City University to NAIA national championships in both 1994 and 1996.

The Rebels trailed Auburn 40-33 at halftime and fell behind by as many as 12 points early in the second half before grabbing a four-point lead with less than seven minutes to play. But they didn’t make another field goal until the final seconds.

Matthew Murrell led Ole Miss with 23 points, Myles Burns added 14 and James White scored 13.

LSU (13-15, 2-13) ended a 14-game losing streak when it defeated visiting Vanderbilt 84-77 on Wednesday night.

“We came out with the mindset that no matter what, we were going to get this win,” said forward KJ Williams, who led the way with 35 points (tying his season-high) and 10 rebounds. He scored 23 of his team’s final 37 points.

The victory was the Tigers’ first in 2023 and came as they scored more than 77 points in a game for the first time since Dec. 17 (an 89-81 win over Winthrop).

“The guys were really locked in to do the things we needed to do to have success,” LSU first-year coach Matt McMahon said. “Great win for our team tonight, really proud of our players. The preparation was really good. Our guys played with great energy.”

–Field Level Media