Ole Miss seeks its first back-to-back wins since beginning Southeastern Conference play while South Carolina looks to snap an eight-game skid when the teams clash Saturday afternoon in Oxford, Miss.
The Rebels (10-14, 2-9 SEC) haven’t won two in a row since opening the season on a six-game winning streak and are coming off a 78-74 victory at Georgia on Tuesday that kept them out of a three-way tie for last place in the league with the Gamecocks and LSU.
The Gamecocks (8-16, 1-10) lost 83-74 at Missouri on Tuesday and haven’t won since their stunning 71-68 victory at Kentucky a month ago. The skid includes a 70-58 loss at home to Ole Miss on Jan. 17.
The Rebels’ win at Georgia followed a 74-71 setback at Vanderbilt last weekend.
“We’re 1-1 in February and we get to go back home for South Carolina on Saturday, so we’re just trying to win some back-to-back games to get some momentum,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said. “It’s just a happy locker room after getting a much-needed win on the road.”
Jaemyn Brakefield and Myles Burns both posted season highs in the win with Brakefield leading with 24 points and Burns adding 20. Brakefield’s effort put him in double figures for the season with a 10.1 scoring clip behind Rebels leader Matthew Murrell (14.6).
Despite the loss, first-year South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said he “liked a lot of things” about what his team did at Missouri. They shot 52 percent from the field, including a decent 9-for-25 from 3-point range, matched the Tigers on the boards 28-28 and recorded 18 assists on 26 baskets.
“At the end of the day,” Paris said, “I really don’t have any complaints about our total effort in terms of what we were doing and how we went about our business. I thought that was good.”
Leading scorer GG Jackson II (16.1 points per game) led the Gamecocks with 23 points off the bench and Hayden Brown added 19.
–Field Level Media
