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The Ole Miss Rebels rode the hot hand of guard Allen Flanigan to a 75-64 win over the Eastern Washington Eagles on Friday night at the SJB Pavilion.
Flanigan, an Auburn transfer, was responsible for 29 points, a career-high, and he also surpassed 1,000 career points in the win, a game that saw him play 37 minutes of action. Joining Flanigan in double digit point totals was Matthew Murrell with 12.
As a team, the Rebels (2-0) shot 47.5 percent from the field and 25 percent from three, but they were out-rebounded by Eastern Washington 38-29. Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard discussed Flanigan's performance in his postgame media availability and what he would like to see out of the star moving forward.
"We ask a lot of Al, and tonight, he answered the bell in a lot of ways," Beard said. "I thought he was aggressive. I thought he was getting banged around in the first half. He's so strong and physical, he's a hard guy for the officials to call those fouls.
"I thought in the second half, he did a really good job just demanding the foul. Slowed down a little bit and made those guys make the right call."
Flanigan's performance on offense draws the headlines, but there is still some room for improvement in the eyes of his coaches.
"He's got to rebound the ball better than he did tonight, but offensively, I thought he was dialed in, and he made some really good plays on defense too."
Friday night's shooting percentages were better for Ole Miss than the ones seen in its season opener against Alabama State on Monday, but this was another tight contest at home for Beard's team. He is hopeful that games like these will help establish some toughness for his team later in the year.
"Back-to-back games where we found ourselves in tough games, so I hope this pays dividends as the season goes on," Beard said. "From a coaching standpoint, you'd like to come out here and maybe get you a game that's easier, but any time you can get in close games, hopefully this will pay some dividends down the road.
"I think we're going to be a good shooting team. Got good percentages in practice, so just a matter of time before the basket opens up for us."
The Rebels will next play host to Detroit Mercy on Tuesday night, and that game will be televised on SEC Network+ at 7 p.m. CT.
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