Luke Dunavant
On Tuesday, March 5, the Ole Miss Rebels fell 69-66 in a tragic loss against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Rebels lost nearly all their momentum once the first half ended. A late-game push gave the fans some hope, but it was to no avail. Losing this game effectively eliminates the Rebels from March Madness and punches their ticket down to the National Invitational Tournament.
To lead Ole Miss, point guard Jaylen Murray and forward Jaemyn Brakefield each scored 19 points. Guard Matthew Murrell, Ole Miss’ typical leading scorer, left the game early due to illness and did not return, which stymied the Rebels’ offense for the majority of this game.
First half
The first half was a close one, with the Rebels immediately down by three points. Brakefield was the saving grace for the Rebels, as he put up 11 points to keep his team afloat. The Rebels looked sloppy throughout the first 20 minutes, but they played just well enough to stay in the game versus a Georgia team that has struggled all season.
Rebel forward Jamarion Sharp ended with no points. Both he and center Moussa Cisse had a poor half on the boards, with only four rebounds combined. Most of the rebounding came from the wings, namely from guard Allen Flanigan and Brakefield.
With an offense that struggled early on, Ole Miss tried to get something going in the post game: Cisse’s points came from easy dunks that were not really contested but were flashy nonetheless.
Second half
The second half looked grim for Ole Miss until the final two minutes — too late to salvage the game. Murray led the charge in the second half and started to control the offense, at least making an effort to change the pace of the game.
However, the Rebels were once again out-rebounded by a Bulldogs team that does not have the height advantage. Despite being the lesser team on paper and in the conference standings, Georgia outclassed and flat out beat Ole Miss in every statistical category. The Bulldogs had more assists, rebounds and blocks, just to name a few.
Ole Miss still made a late-game push after being down 11 points with just under three minutes left. The Rebels cut that lead down to as little as two points with 50 seconds still left on the clock, but a bucket by Georgia’s Russel Tchewa and a pair of free throws by Justin Hill wrapped things in a bow for the Bulldogs’ upset victory over Ole Miss.
Offensive MVP: Jaemyn Brakefield
It was hard to pick someone, considering offense was hard to come by in general, but Brakefield played the best. He had 19 points, which was the same as Murray, but he was more efficient in obtaining those points. Alas, neither were enough to turn the tide in favor of the Rebels.
Weird stat of the game
There were two things that stuck out on the box score. Sharp had more fouls than points, with two fouls to no points. He also only had one more rebound than fouls, which came at the very end of the game.
Next up, Flanigan is one of the best players on this team. Tonight, however, he was on the struggle bus. His points may fool you, but going into the box score, you can see that of his 11 points, nine of them came from the free-throw line. This means he went 1-8 from the field. This was simply not his night, nor was it the Rebels’.
What’s next
Ole Miss will close out the regular season against Texas A&M on Saturday, March 9, at 1 p.m. CT.
