The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men’s Basketball Off to 3-0 Start in SEC Play
1/13/2025 | Men's Basketball
OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 21 Ole Miss men's basketball team is off to its best start in Southeastern Conference play in half a decade as it topped LSU on Saturday to move to 3-0 in the league.
Chris Beard has the Rebels at 3-0 for the first time since 2018-19, as they overcame an early deficit and overwhelmed the Tigers in the second half for a decisive 77-65 victory in front of 9,406 at the SJB Pavilion, a packed crowd that came despite classes still being out of session and snow blanketing the area the day before the game.
"Very thankful for the attendance tonight," Beard said. "With the weather the last couple days, we've had a lot of our season ticket holders come in from out of town, so thank you. We had an almost capacity crowd—must've been eight, nine thousand people here. It's exciting to think about what we're building here."
Team Wins
Against LSU, Ole Miss had five players in double figures scoring for the fourth time this season, led by Malik Dia, who dropped 19 on the Tigers and 21 on Arkansas earlier in the week.
Even after netting 40 this week, Dia is just Ole Miss' sixth-leading scorer on the season and one of eight players averaging 6.0 points per game or more. Sean Pedulla has been in double figures 11 times, Jaylen Murray 11 times, Dre Davis 10 times, Jaemyn Brakefield nine times and Matthew Murrell eight times.
"It's Ole Miss basketball. It's by design," Beard said. "I don't think you can win six games in three weekends with one dominant leading scorer. You have to have scoring different ways. If we can play good defense, take care of the ball and have multiple guys in double figures scoring, we've proven we can be more than competitive over the years."
Stacked SEC
Ole Miss will be tested this week with a pair of SEC road trips to No. 4 Alabama on Tuesday and No. 15 Mississippi State on Saturday, and plenty more ranked teams waiting further down the schedule.
In this week's rankings, the SEC boasts four of the top six teams, five of the top eight and nine in all of the Top 25.
Big Games Ahead
The rest of the SEC slate brings exclusively marquee games to the SJB Pavilion—every remaining home game comes against a ranked team or an SEC newcomer.
Ole Miss will host No. 11 Texas A&M in what will likely be its third consecutive ranked opponent. The Rebels then host SEC newbie Texas, No. 1 Auburn, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 15 MSU, another new SEC foe in Oklahoma and No. 6 Tennessee.
Act now to secure your seats for the rest of the SEC slate! Tickets are still available for all home games, except for Auburn, which has sold out. Fans can check SeatGeek for other ticketing options against the top-ranked Tigers. Limited quantities remain for all other home games, including less than 200 left for MSU.
Head to OleMissTix.com now and help us keep the Pavilion packed.
Subscribe to The Sip
Want to stay up-to-date on the latest Ole Miss basketball news? Subscribe to The Sip, the official newsletter of the Rebels to have all the crucial content, stories, videos and more sent to your inbox.
New Ole Miss Sports App
Update today to the all-new version of the Ole Miss Sports app, presented by Renasant Bank! The new app will serve as a dynamic hub for Rebel content, including ticketing, parking, schedules, shopping for official Ole Miss merchandise and much more. Click here for more info or to download.
Chris Beard has the Rebels at 3-0 for the first time since 2018-19, as they overcame an early deficit and overwhelmed the Tigers in the second half for a decisive 77-65 victory in front of 9,406 at the SJB Pavilion, a packed crowd that came despite classes still being out of session and snow blanketing the area the day before the game.
"Very thankful for the attendance tonight," Beard said. "With the weather the last couple days, we've had a lot of our season ticket holders come in from out of town, so thank you. We had an almost capacity crowd—must've been eight, nine thousand people here. It's exciting to think about what we're building here."
2️⃣1️⃣#HottyToddy x #Culture pic.twitter.com/G2zryfKXN4
— Ole Miss Men's Basketball (@OleMissMBB) January 13, 2025
Team Wins
Against LSU, Ole Miss had five players in double figures scoring for the fourth time this season, led by Malik Dia, who dropped 19 on the Tigers and 21 on Arkansas earlier in the week.
Even after netting 40 this week, Dia is just Ole Miss' sixth-leading scorer on the season and one of eight players averaging 6.0 points per game or more. Sean Pedulla has been in double figures 11 times, Jaylen Murray 11 times, Dre Davis 10 times, Jaemyn Brakefield nine times and Matthew Murrell eight times.
"It's Ole Miss basketball. It's by design," Beard said. "I don't think you can win six games in three weekends with one dominant leading scorer. You have to have scoring different ways. If we can play good defense, take care of the ball and have multiple guys in double figures scoring, we've proven we can be more than competitive over the years."
Stacked SEC
Ole Miss will be tested this week with a pair of SEC road trips to No. 4 Alabama on Tuesday and No. 15 Mississippi State on Saturday, and plenty more ranked teams waiting further down the schedule.
In this week's rankings, the SEC boasts four of the top six teams, five of the top eight and nine in all of the Top 25.
Big Games Ahead
The rest of the SEC slate brings exclusively marquee games to the SJB Pavilion—every remaining home game comes against a ranked team or an SEC newcomer.
Ole Miss will host No. 11 Texas A&M in what will likely be its third consecutive ranked opponent. The Rebels then host SEC newbie Texas, No. 1 Auburn, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 15 MSU, another new SEC foe in Oklahoma and No. 6 Tennessee.
Act now to secure your seats for the rest of the SEC slate! Tickets are still available for all home games, except for Auburn, which has sold out. Fans can check SeatGeek for other ticketing options against the top-ranked Tigers. Limited quantities remain for all other home games, including less than 200 left for MSU.
Head to OleMissTix.com now and help us keep the Pavilion packed.
Subscribe to The Sip
Want to stay up-to-date on the latest Ole Miss basketball news? Subscribe to The Sip, the official newsletter of the Rebels to have all the crucial content, stories, videos and more sent to your inbox.
New Ole Miss Sports App
Update today to the all-new version of the Ole Miss Sports app, presented by Renasant Bank! The new app will serve as a dynamic hub for Rebel content, including ticketing, parking, schedules, shopping for official Ole Miss merchandise and much more. Click here for more info or to download.
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