A strong first half carried No. 25 Ole Miss to an 84-69 win over Colorado State at the Landers Center on Saturday.
The Rebels exploded offensively in the first 20 minutes of action, opening things up on a 21-7 run largely due to a strong showing from Belmont transfer Malik Dia and North Carolina Greensboro transfer Mikeal Brown-Jones.
Dia found his sweet spot, a mid-range jumper from either corner, and gave the Rebels nine points. Brown-Jones played bully ball, hauling in offensive boards and getting buckets down low against a thin Rams bunch.
Chris Beard’s crew was also red-hot from the arc, nailing six of 12 three-pointers to help lead the team to a 45-26 lead at the midway intermission.
Ole Miss remained solid at the beginning of the second half, taking a 24-point lead with 16:46 left in the game. But then an avalanche of scoring by the Rams — specifically guards Nique Clifford and Jalen Lake — ensued.
With just over eight minutes remaining in the contest, the Rebels’ lead had been mostly eviscerated. Colorado State, after going on a 24-9 run as Ole Miss began to slump offensively, smelled blood in the water. Ole Miss had been heavily reliant on free throws for a large portion of the second half. However, the team was inconsistent at the charity stripe.
Beard called a crucial timeout to stop the bleeding. After the game, both Brown-Jones and Beard made it known that a group of players collectively made remarks in the huddle to motivate Ole Miss to get back on track.
Both squads sparred after the brief break. Jaylen Murray hit a much-needed triple to steal momentum from the visiting team, putting Ole Miss up by 12 with 5:14 remaining in action.
Another round of volleying ensued, but the Rebels put the nail in the coffin when Jaemyn Brakefield connected from behind the arc at the two-minute mark, giving his team a 78-62 advantage.
“Colorado State is a great team. They have a lot of great players on their team who can really shoot the ball. So, for me, it was important for our team to stay poised,” Brown-Jones said. “The maturity of our team showed tonight and allowed us to come away with this win.”
Beard was highly complimentary of the relatively light crowd at the DeSoto County venue. He also touted his team’s opponent, which has appeared in two of the last three NCAA Tournaments.
He was high on the effort his Rebels put forth in the first half while acknowledging that work still remains to be done to get the team operating at its fullest potential.
“I really appreciate the crowd today. A lot of Ole Miss people came here from Oxford and the Memphis area. [There is] lots to do on Saturdays with this kind of weather outside, so I’m really thankful for the people who came,” Beard said.
“This game had our full attention. We knew we had to play well to win. We did that for two-thirds of the game. In the first half, we played about as well as we’ve played to this point. In the second half, you knew Colorado State was going to make a run. That’s what winners do.”
Ole Miss (4-0) had six players eclipse double-digits on the scoreboard. Murray led the team with an efficient 16 points as he was four-of-six from the floor and a perfect six-of-six from the charity stripe. The Rebels also rebounded by committee with Dia hauling in a team-best five boards.
Colorado State (3-1) was led by a stellar outing from its leading guards. Lake and Clifford combined for 39 of the team’s points in the matchup. Clifford also led the Rams in rebounding with seven.
As a team, Beard’s crew had arguably its best shooting performance of the season. The Rebels connected on 51% of their shots (47% from behind the three-point line). Colorado State, on the other hand, was better from the free-throw line.
The Rebels dominated the turnover battle, only coughing up the ball four times while forcing their opponent to surrender it 15 times. Ole Miss had 22 points off of turnovers compared to Colorado State’s eight.
Despite scoring more points in the paint, Ole Miss lost the rebounding battle by one board in what was a relatively dominant outing down low for the red and blue.
Ole Miss will return to Oxford to take on Oral Roberts in the SJB Pavilion on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
