The hits keep coming for Ole Miss, as the Rebels have now suffered six straight losses. The most recent defeat occurred in the SJB Pavilion on Wednesday night with Alabama earning a 93-74 road win.
A mostly-promising first half by Chris Beard’s crew did not translate in the final frame, as the Crimson Tide scored a whopping 62 points in the last 20 minutes of action to secure the 19-point victory. It was the first home game for the Rebels after Winter Storm Fern, in part, forced a four-game road stint, though the return to Oxford did not pan out as desired.
Alabama (17-7, 7-4 SEC) had five players with double-digits on the scoreboard. Standout guards Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Labaron Philon led the offensive effort with 21 and 18 points, respectively. Ole Miss (11-13, 3-8 SEC) was carried by a 27-point performance from AJ Storr, while Eduardo Klafke neared a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Rebels opened things up on a 5-0 run, one that was instantly countered by Nate Oats’ team. At the 15:30 mark of the first half, Storr took initiative, scoring seven consecutive points to build a 12-6 lead for Ole Miss. Storr continued to step on the gas, with a complementary dunk from James Scott, to help the red and blue go up 20-11 just past the midway point of the half. From there, Alabama would catch fire and close out the first frame on a 21-10 run to take a small lead into halftime.
A jumper from Klafke knotted things up early in the second half, and that was the closest Ole Miss would get to its opponent the rest of the way. A near-immediate 7-0 run by Alabama’s Aiden Sherrell widened the scoreboard gap, forcing the Rebels to play catch-up the rest of the way.
An Aiden Holloway triple followed by a bucket from Philon put the Crimson Tide up 50-38 at the 14:01 mark. Ole Miss clawed back, cutting the deficit to seven points over the next few minutes, but for every forward step the Rebels took, Alabama had a counterpunch to ensure that there would be more steps taken in the opposite direction. Alabama’s lead hovered around the 10- to 12-point range up until the end when a swath of deep shots put the contest out of reach.
As a whole, Ole Miss had a better shooting percentage than the Crimson Tide. The Rebels hit 42% of their shots compared to the 39.4% clip by Alabama. What negated the volume of shots was that the Crimson Tide had 27 more points from three-point range, 16 more points from the free-throw line, 11 more second-chance points, and 10 more fastbreak points.
Ole Miss had 20 more points in the paint, where Alabama struggled after a judge ruled that former NBA G League center Charles Bediako could no longer compete at the collegiate ranks. Bediako had appeared in four games for the Crimson Tide this season before being ruled ineligible. Though the Rebels were solid down low, Malik Dia was once again a non-factor. The senior forward was 1-6 from the floor with two points in just eight minutes of action.
Beard and company will welcome Mississippi State to the Pavilion on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on ESPN2 and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations. Ole Miss won the last matchup in Starkville 68-67.