No. 21 Ole Miss earned a historic win at No. 4 Alabama while No. 15 Mississippi State was dominated by top-ranked Auburn on the road to end another round of midweek action in the Southeastern Conference.
Here’s what went down on the hardwood:
No. 21 Ole Miss 74, No. 4 Alabama 64
Malik Dia had 23 points and 18 rebounds to propel the Rebels (15-2, 4-0 SEC) to their first-ever win over a top-five opponent on the road. Tuesday night’s victory also marked the first Ole Miss win in Coleman Coliseum in 10 years.
Ahead of the matchup, Rebel frontman Chris Beard stressed the importance of hard-nose defense and a balanced attack when taking on teams of Alabama’s magnitude. The Crimson Tide (14-3, 3-1 SEC) came into the contest as the top offense in the country, but that did not intimidate Ole Miss. The Rebels forced 21 turnovers and held Alabama to an unconventionally-low 25% from three-point range.
A dunk by Dia lit up the scoreboard with 18:43 on the clock after Ole Miss forced turnovers on Alabama’s first three possessions. As defense remained strong on both sides, a triple by Jaylen Murray gave the Rebels a 7-4 advantage with 15:13 left in the half.
Alabama began to catch a bit of an offensive rhythm and took a five-point lead at the 11:48 mark. But Ole Miss stayed the course, continued forcing turnovers, and went toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s hottest teams.
A Sean Pedulla jumper tied things up with under eight minutes until the midway break. Alabama, led by Aden Holloway, jumped ahead and held a narrow edge until the midway intermission. Ole Miss trailed 36-32 at halftime.
In its last three outings, Ole Miss surged in the second half and pulled away from its foe. That somewhat occurred in Tuscaloosa.
After forcing three early turnovers, none other than Dia laid the ball in the basket to tie things up 36-36 with just under 18 minutes on the clock. Murray later connected on a triple to give Ole Miss its first lead of the half, and the Rebels never looked back.
Though Alabama refused to surrender, multi-minute scoring droughts plagued Nate Oats’ squad, who had to lean on free throws for supplemental scoring for a large portion of the half.
Despite the defensive dominance, Ole Miss was unable to completely put the contest away. With five minutes remaining, Dia landed a second-chance layup to give the Rebels their first double-digit lead of the night. Jarin Stevenson immediately hit a triple on the other side to keep the Tide alive.
As crunch time really started to set in, Pedulla nailed a three-pointer to put Ole Miss up 12, furthering the chasm between the two teams on the scoreboard. Alabama went on a quick 6-0 run, and with one minute left in the contest, the Tide began to foul to maximize possession opportunities.
Jaemyn Brakefield emerged as a reliable veteran, knocking in the next six Ole Miss free throws and helping the Rebels earn the program’s best regular season win. Ole Miss joins Auburn as the only remaining SEC teams undefeated in conference play.
Dia’s double-double marked the first time an Ole Miss player had more than 20 points and 15 rebounds in a contest since now-Athletic Director Keith Carter’s playing days. Four other Rebels scored double-digits on Tuesday. Murray and Brakefield had 13 points, Pedulla amassed 12, and Matthew Murrell scored 12.
Holloway led Alabama in scoring with 14 points. Mark Sears, one of the SEC’s scoring leaders, had 11 points. Grant Nelson grabbed eight rebounds to lead his squad.
Ole Miss had 14 steals and 19 points off of turnovers. Pedulla, Murrell, Davon Barnes, and Dre Davis were responsible for three apiece in the dominant defensive showing. Alabama grabbed two more rebounds than its foe.
The Rebels had 23 more field goal attempts and shot 39% from the floor to Alabama’s 43%. The Crimson Tide shot 10 more free throws in the matchup. Alabama was 19-26 from the charity stripe while Ole Miss was an efficient 14-16 from the line.
Next up for the red and blue is a Saturday afternoon outing versus a Mississippi State squad looking to snap a two-game conference losing streak. The contest will tip off from Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville at 5 p.m. CT.
No. 15 Mississippi State 66, No. 1 Auburn 88
Four Bulldogs scored more than 10 points, but that did not matter as Mississippi State (14-3, 2-2 SEC) was outmatched by an Auburn team lacking its best player.
Standout Tiger big man Johni Broome went down with an ankle injury at South Carolina on Saturday and was ruled out for the midweek matchup versus Chris Jans’ tough club. Chad Baker-Mazara stepped up for Auburn (16-1, 4-0 SEC), scoring a team-best 20 points to lead the Tigers to a 22-point win over its top-15 foe.
Auburn scored the first 10 points of the game, and the Bulldogs were left playing catch-up for the rest of the night. The Tigers’ early surge led to a 46-27 halftime advantage.
Bruce Pearl’s team stepped on the gas in the second half, taking a 26-point lead at the 10:51 mark courtesy of a seven-point solo run from Tahaad Pettiford. However, the Bulldogs were not quite ready to surrender.
Over the next six minutes, Mississippi State showed life, going on a 21-8 run to cut the deficit to 13 with 4:45 left in the contest. Josh Hubbard and RJ Melendez led the efforts to get their team back into the contest.
Auburn proceeded to steal the momentum and closed the game outscoring its conference counterpart 15-6 down the stretch.
Hubbard led Mississippi state in scoring with 17 points. Melendez had 15 points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Claudell Harris, Jr. and KeyShawn Murphy mounted 11 points each.
As a team, Mississippi State was 35% from the floor and just 12.5% from behind the arc. Auburn, on the other hand hit 55% of its field goals, marking consecutive games in which Bulldog opponents converted at least half of their shots.
Mississippi State turned the ball over six more times than the Tigers, but hauled in 12 more rebounds in the game. Auburn had 10 blocks in the contest. Nine of those came in the first half.
The Bulldogs went to the charity stripe 12 more times than Auburn and had more points in the paint, but it was not enough to overcome a daunting shooting performance from deep.
Jans and company will look to reverse their losing streak on Saturday against bitter in-state foe Ole Miss. The showdown will air on ESPN2 and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
