The Ole Miss men’s basketball team has finally earned a win against a conference foe on the road after three unsuccessful attempts earlier this month — and it was a historic one.
A pair of big runs to close out both halves and a clutch three-pointer from Jaylen “Juju” Murray gave the Rebels (17-3, 4-3 SEC) enough momentum to mount the team’s first-ever win at Texas A&M.
Saturday night’s game started rather slow offensively with both teams struggling to find buckets. Texas A&M held a slight advantage for the bulk of the half and started to press on the gas with a nine-point lead at the 3:13 mark, but the Rebels did not lay down and accept defeat.
A triple from Murray ended a three-minute Ole Miss scoring drought and led the team on a momentum-stealing run. Ole Miss went into the midway break on an 11-2 run and held a 31-29 lead after trailing for the overwhelming majority of the half.
Chris Beard’s team picked up right where it left off to begin the second half. A 13-4 Ole Miss run put the Rebels up by 11 with 15:33 left in the game. However, Texas A&M found new life following an injury to Moussa Cisse that caused the big man to go to the bench for the next four minutes.
Then the avalanche happened. Fueled by an outstanding performance by guard Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M, a team that once looked like they were about to be run out of their own arena, went on to not only erase the Rebels’ advantage, but also take control of the game down the stretch.
With 15:22 left on the clock, Taylor hit a shot from behind the arc that sparked a 28-9 run over the next 12 minutes, giving the Aggies a 60-53 lead with under four minutes remaining. Nonetheless, despite being a victim of offensive stagnation, Ole Miss was not ready to surrender.
The Rebels launched a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to reclaim a lead. Tyrese Radford knocked down a pair of free throws to tie things up with 46 seconds to go. In arguably the most consequential possession of the season, none other than Juju Murray pulled the trigger and hit from deep to put the Rebels up in the waning seconds of the contest.
Texas A&M’s Radford was only able to convert one of two free throws, opening the door for Ole Miss to pull away late, and they did. Allen Flanigan knocked down his attempts from the charity stripe, but Taylor, in one of his most outstanding performances of the season, hit a triple to put the Aggies within one point with 11 seconds remaining.
Ole Miss converted its next four free throws and prevented the Aggies from getting a good shot from three to officially post the historic victory.
Three Rebels amassed double digits on the scoreboard. Juju Murray led the way with 16 while Brakefield scored 15 and Allen Flanigan had 11. Flanigan also hauled in seven rebounds.
Taylor led the Aggies in scoring with 30. It was the fifth time this season that the junior guard had scored 30 or more points in a match.
One of the biggest differences in the game was three-point shooting. Ole Miss was 10-24 or 42% from behind the arc compared to Texas A&M’s 6-20 or 30% from beyond the three-point line. Coming into the game, the Aggies were known as one of the best offensive-rebounding teams in the conference. Ole Miss held its own in that category, pulling down 13 offensive boards compared to 18 from their SEC counterpart.
Next up for the Rebels is an in-state rivalry against Mississippi State in the SJB Pavilion. That game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. central.
