The No. 24 Ole Miss basketball team leaned on veterans and stalwart defense in its 63-51 win over Georgia to open SEC play on a high note.
Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield shook off a suboptimal outing versus Memphis one week ago and scored 15 points apiece to lead the Rebels to a hard-fought victory over the Bulldogs. Defensively, Ole Miss held Georgia to a 29.4% shooting performance and the Bulldogs made just two of 18 shots from behind the arc.
Fueled by a strong opening by Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss jumped off to a 10-4 lead within the first five minutes of action, but the offense quickly fizzled as Georgia climbed. Bulldog forward Asa Newell converted a three-point play to knot things up 15-15 with 9:28 left until the midway break. Things got even worse for Ole Miss when Mikeal Brown-Jones suffered an injury and was escorted to the locker room after blocking a shot. He did not return to the hardwood.
From there, both groups went back and forth. Dakota Leffew made Georgia’s first triple of the night at the 6:22 mark, giving the Bulldogs their inaugural lead of the contest. As offensive inertia continued to plague Ole Miss, veterans Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield willed the Rebels into competitiveness on the scoreboard, notching a collective seven points in the last three minutes of the half. Georgia led 28-26 at the midway break.
Murrell scored four quick points and Dre Davis drained a triple to put the Rebels back on top early in the second half. Ole Miss, with a boost of confidence, went on a 16-4 run as the defense forced a shot-clock violation and multiple Georgia turnovers over an eight-minute span.