The Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball team lost its seventh game of the 2023-24 season on Wednesday night to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, falling 83-71 on the road. The Rebels are now 1-5 in the month of February.
The Rebels started the game sluggishly, trailing the Bulldogs 20-8 at the 12-minute mark before they began chipping away at State's lead and eventually went into halftime with a 44-40 lead over their rivals. Senior guard Matthew Murrell led Ole Miss in scoring in the first half with 16 points. He and the rest of the Rebels starting five did most of the heavy lifting in the first half, as Ole Miss' bench only recorded eight points in the first 20 minutes.
The second half was more of a back-and-forth battle until the Bulldogs began to pull away with 12 minutes remaining in the contest. State extended its lead by 11-points at the under eight minute timeout thanks to a 9-0 scoring run. The Bulldogs did not give up the lead the rest of the night.
Ole Miss was led in scoring by Murrell with 23 points, and he was joined in double digits by Jaylen Murray (12), Allen Flanigan (12). As a team, Ole Miss shot 40 percent from the field and 32 from three compared to percentages of 50 and 43 from the Bulldogs, respectively. Ole Miss' reserves finished the game with 11 points, compared to 49 from Mississippi State's bench.
The Rebels will now journey back to the friendly confines of the Sandy and John Black Pavilion, where they will host the No. 20 South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on SEC Network.
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