No. 17 Ole Miss and Mississippi State handled business on the hardwood on Tuesday night, walking away double-digit victors as the end of non-conference action nears.
The Rebels (10-1) returned to Oxford after defeating Southern Miss on the Gulf Coast and faced off against Southern Univerity in front of a home crowd. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (10-1) capped off a series of neutral site games, playing Central Michigan in Jackson following a narrow win over McNeese in Tupelo over the weekend.
Here’s what went down:
Ole Miss 74, Southern 61
The Rebels and Jaguars turned the ball over a combined 35 times in the sloppy midweek affair, but Ole Miss profited more from the giveaways. Ole Miss had 22 points off of turnovers compared to 16 from its SWAC counterpart.
Jaylen Murray, converting on six of seven three-point attempts, scored 18 points and Dre Davis put 14 on the scoreboard while Sean Pedulla did a little bit of everything for the Rebels. Pedulla, in what was not his best scoring night, logged seven assists, five rebounds, and four steals. The Rebels remained without Matthew Murrell for the third straight outing.
Ole Miss jumped off to an 18-8 lead in the first seven minutes of action and looked to be in a position to run away with the game early, but a 9-0 Jaguar run put Southern back in the mix. The Rebels pulled away with a 42-33 lead at the midway intermission.
A dunk off a fastbreak and a pair of successful triples by Southern cut Ole Miss’ lead to just one point in the first two minutes of the second half. Fueled by a hot hand from Murray, the Rebels went on a 17-3 run over the next eight minutes to effectively take the Jaguars out of contention.
Next up for Ole Miss is a Saturday afternoon matchup against Queens out of North Carolina. The game will tip-off at the SJB Pavilion at 4 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on SEC Network+ as well as participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
Mississippi State 83, Central Michigan 59
Bulldog fans in the capital city were treated to a good old-fashioned beatdown on Tuesday as Chris Jans’ crew utterly manhandled the overmatched Chippewas.
Claudell Harris, Jr. scored 19 points and Michael Nwoko accounted for 18 of the Bulldogs’ production on the scoreboard in what was a relatively quiet night for Josh Hubbard. A scoreless Cam Matthews served as Mississippi State’s ultimate utility player with 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Central Michigan jumped off to a 7-1 lead in the early minutes of the contest. The Bulldogs promptly stormed back, scoring 23 of the next 28 points to take a 24-12 lead with 8:05 left in the first half. The Chippewas stopped the bleeding a tad, but to no avail, as Mississippi State carried a seven-point advantage into halftime.
Led by a strong showing by Nwoko, Mississippi State went on a 14-0 run within the first five minutes of the half, seemingly neutralizing the Mid-American Conference team. The Bulldogs continued to show off for the Jackson crowd the rest of the way out and emerged a 24-point winner.
Mississippi State will continue playing on the road, with a Saturday morning stop in Memphis next on the agenda. The Bulldogs will face the No. 21 Tigers at FedEx Forum at 11:30 a.m. CT with the game being aired on CBS and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.