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Published Nov 21, 2024
Strong second half puts away Oral Roberts, allows Rebels to remain unbeaten
Neal McCready  •  RebelGrove
Publisher

OXFORD — Sean Pedulla and Matthew Murrrell each had 19 points Thursday, leading Ole Miss to a 100-68 win over Oral Roberts Thursday.

With the win, Ole Miss improved to 5-0. Oral Roberts fell to 2-4.

Five players scored in double figures for Ole Miss, with Jaemyn Brakefield and Davon Barnes adding 13 each and Mikeal Brown-Jones scoring 12.

Oral Roberts got 19 points from Darius Robinson Jr., 14 from Sam Alajiki and 13 from Issac McBride.

Ole Miss was 19-0 in non-conference play last season and have now won 18 straight non-Southeastern Conference games. It’s the longest non-league winning streak in the nation.

Ole Miss missed its first nine shots from behind the 3-point line. However, the Rebels committed just three first-half turnovers and shot 51.4 percent from the floor, taking a 50-40 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Ole Miss dominated the second half, building a quick 20-point lead eight minutes into the period. From there, the Rebels never looked back, building a 37-point lead at one point.

“A lot of it was being physical and being the aggressor and taking them out of the stuff we know they wanted to do,” Pedulla said. “We kind of got away from that towards the end of the first half.”

The Rebels scored 37 points off 21 Oral Roberts turnovers and outscored the Eagles 44-16 in the paint. Ole Miss committed just eight turnovers.

“We took care of the ball and had balanced scoring,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “Defensively, I thought we responded in the second half. …I thought we buckled down and played better defense in the second half.”

Beard said the team talked about the importance of better defense at halftime.

“It was important to try to string together stops,” Beard said. “We got eight kills in this game, which is three stops in a row. That’s something we’re always looking for with the statistics and analytics. …It was the will, the desire, the want-to. We had to play some defense.”

Beard said the Rebels are still working to build an identity. He said he believes his team is built on balance and diversity on offense, the ability to score in the post and score off defense.

“I think this can be a really good 3-point shooting team,” Beard said. “We have multiple guys who can share the ball. …Defensively, we’re experienced. We’re strong in the weight room. We just have to continue to develop team defense. This early in the journey, I’d say the vision for this team still kind of stands true. We just have to get better. We’re a work in progress.”

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Notes:

— Dre Davis missed Thursday’s game with an arm injury suffered this past Saturday in a win over Colorado State. Beard said Davis needed “rest more than anything,” indicating he didn’t believe the injury was anything serious, adding the Rebels “hope to get him back really soon.”

— Murrell passed Murphy Holloway in the first half and is now 15th on Ole Miss’all-time scoring chart.

— Ole Miss faces Brigham Young in San Diego on Nov. 28. North Carolina State and Purdue make up the other half of the neutral-site event.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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