Ole Miss hosted the No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies in its last home game of the season, but the Aggies methodically crept back into the game until the Rebels ran out of steam. In the end, the Rebels fell to the Aggies 69-61.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 13-4 lead in just over four minutes of play, thanks to a flurry of threes from Robert Allen and Matthew Murrell. The Rebels maintained this lead for the next three minutes, commanding a 20-9 lead, but that quickly changed when A&M turned up the pressure and started making their shots on offense.
In a matter of minutes, the Aggies led the game 22-20, and after some pre-halftime back-and-forth, Texas A&M went into the break with a 34-28 lead.
The Rebel offense ran almost exclusively through Murrell, and he made the most of every opportunity while putting up 26 points on 73% from three-point land. He was the spark Ole Miss needed to have a chance at the upset, but the rest of the team struggled against the Aggie’s defense.
The next highest scorer for the Rebels was sophomore James White with nine points.
Despite the offensive struggles, Ole Miss had numerous opportunities to come back. After being down by as many as nine points with just over four minutes remaining, Ole Miss stormed back to within four points. However, just when the Rebels had all the momentum, disaster struck, which allowed A&M to run away with this one.
With two minutes left in the game, Ole Miss star forward Jaemyn Brakefield missed a dunk that would have brought the house down. On the ensuing possession, freshman guard TJ Caldwell threw a pass to Brakefield at the top of the key that was intercepted by Texas A&M’s Andersson Garcia, who dunked it for an easy two points.
Ole Miss lost out on yet another opportunity to upset a March Madness-bound team, but this loss is not a purely negative one. The team showed once again that it is no pushover. Ole Miss may have also proven that it is, in fact, a coach away from national relevance. But for now, the Rebels will set their sights on the Missouri Tigers.
Ole Miss takes on the Tigers in the last game of the regular season Saturday, March 4, at 2:30 p.m. CST in Missouri’s Mizzou Arena on SEC Network.
