A putback by Dre Davis with under one second remaining in Saturday’s matchup earned No. 25 Ole Miss a thrilling comeback victory over LSU in enemy territory.
The Rebels (18-6, 7-4 SEC) faced their largest deficit with just over three minutes left in the game as the Tigers (12-11, 1-9 SEC) led 70-59. But a bout of fortune played into the advantage of the visitors, who had been overwhelmed physically for a large portion of the contest. Chris Beard leaned on his veteran-heavy roster, which delivered a 15-2 run to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
UNBELIEVABLE 🤯@DAndreDavis tips it in in the final moments to give us the win!#HottyToddy x #Culture pic.twitter.com/O7yhEEhq0W
— Ole Miss Men’s Basketball (@OleMissMBB) February 9, 2025
The win was arguably the inverse of what played out in Oxford a few weeks ago when Texas A&M, trailing the entire game, hit a go-ahead shot in the final seconds to steal a road victory. Fortunately for Ole Miss, the Rebels were gifted a chance to amass that type of win.
Game Recap
LSU’s Cam Carter got on the board first following nearly three minutes of scoreless basketball. Ole Miss struggled to find an offensive identity against the Tigers’ on-ball pressure and had a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers. Jaylen Murray hit a triple for the Rebels to give his team a 10-7 lead at the 14-minute mark.
The Rebels’ lead was brief as LSU began to expose Ole Miss’ defensive weakness in the post. The Tigers flipped the scoreboard with just under 10 minutes left in the half and never surrendered their advantage. Triples by Mike Williams III and Carter, paired with a strong showing by Daimion Collins in the paint, allowed LSU to build as large as an eight-point advantage.
Sean Pedulla hit a couple of threes in the final five minutes of the half to keep the score competitive. However, Carter landed a shot from deep to send LSU to the midway intermission with a 39-33 lead.
Ole Miss opened the second half with an air-balled three-pointer taken by Murray. Jordan Sears followed up the Rebel miscue with back-to-back triples, putting LSU up by 10 early. Davis began to take matters into his hands by working the low post and effectively getting Collins into foul trouble. The Seton Hall transfer led a 13-4 run to get his team within three with 10:47 left in the game.
A timely triple by Carter ended Ole Miss’ surge on the scoreboard and the pendulum started to swing in the Tigers’ favor once more. In a five-minute span, LSU worked back to a double-digit lead as crunch time began. A costly foul and subsequent technical whistled against Tiger forward Corey Chest gifted Ole Miss four free throws — all of which proved to be successful.
With five minutes remaining, Ole Miss was within striking distance, trailing by six. Carter, though, looked to defend home court as he knocked down a three to end the momentum the Rebels had garnered. Sears hit two free throws to put LSU up by 11 with 3:57 left after a disastrous sequence by the Rebels in which Pedulla missed a triple and a jumper off of an offensive board.
Ole Miss did not budge, despite the tough hill to climb. The Rebels proceeded to force three Tiger turnovers, knock down all given attempts at the free-throw line, and make timely shots — the penultimate being a three-pointer by Jaemyn Brakefield to knot things up 70-70 with 45 seconds on the clock. Carter, who had been LSU’s most reliable asset all night, committed a costly turnover, giving Ole Miss the final shot of the game.
Pedulla missed a layup, but Davis stuck with the play and knocked the ball into the basket. Though the shot was initially waved off as officials thought the ball was on the rim at the time of Davis’ putback, a review gave the red and blue a stunning victory on the road.
Impact Players
Davis was inarguably the most effective player on the floor on Saturday. The Ole Miss forward logged a game-best 22 points while securing seven rebounds. Pedulla also shined on the stat sheet with 17 points.
Carter led LSU in scoring with 16 points and Collins was close to his teammate with 15. Chest, who was not a scoring threat, had a game-best 12 rebounds.
Deciding Factor
The final four minutes ultimately won Ole Miss, and subsequently lost LSU, the basketball game. The Rebels played mostly mistake-free and capitalized on their foes’ miscues, largely due to having a roster compiled of experienced players.
Neither team shot particularly well, which made free throws an important element of the game. This played to Ole Miss’ advantage due to LSU’s inefficiencies at the charity stripe. The Tigers were 12-25 (48%) while the Rebels were 20-29 (69%) when given free shots.
Ole Miss also won the turnover battle, coughing the ball up five fewer times. LSU’s 10 giveaways were converted into nine points for the visitors.
Coach’s Comments
Beard credited his team’s resiliency in mounting their largest comeback win of the season. He said that ahead of the year, he informed his guys that they would have to stick to the game plan and work from behind in order to win some of the games on the schedule — and that showed on Saturday.
“We call that ‘play it to the bone’ in our program. We tell the guys at the start of the season, ‘You’re going to have to win courageous, late-game comebacks,'” Beard said. “I thought our guys had a lot of poise. I thought we used our timeouts well and just kind of stayed on the same page.”
What allowed the comeback to be attained against an LSU squad that had been the most aggressive team for the majority of the night was the Rebels’ veteran presence. When big plays were needed, guys like Davis, Pedulla, and Brakefield — all seniors — delivered.
“We’re experienced. We’ve got older guys. I thought our guys did a good job digesting the information that we were trying to get done in winning time,” Beard said
Next Up
Ole Miss will remain on the road with a stop at South Carolina being next on the docket. Tuesday’s game will tip off from Columbia on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT and will be aired on the SEC Network as well as participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
