Ole Miss has now lost nine straight games. The Rebels, continuing a drastic slump in conference play, fell to No. 12 Florida 94-75 in the SJB Pavilion on Saturday.
The reigning national champion Gators (21-6, 11-3 SEC) were led by Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh’s dominant performances. Condon finished the game with 24 points, while Haugh logged 20 points and nine rebounds. Xaivian Lee had a complimentary double-double consisting of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Ole Miss (11-16, 3-11 SEC) was led by a strong 24-point showing by Malik Dia, one that was overshadowed in the blowout loss.
“Losing is hard, especially for the program. I’m a joyful guy at the end of the day. I keep my spirits up,” Dia said when asked how he keeps morale high amid the losing streak. “I read the Bible. I play the game. I do all the types of stuff to get my mind off the basketball [loss]. Basketball brings me the most joy. Just staying in the gym and grinding, regardless of our outcome, I’m going to be in there.”
Haugh hit an early 3-pointer to kick-start what would be a strong first half for the junior. A dunk by Ilias Kamardine, followed by a pair of jump shots by Dia, gave Ole Miss a 6-3 lead with 17:24 on the clock. A back-and-forth affair played out over the next three minutes, then the road Gators stepped on the gas pedal. A dunk by Haugh and a series of free throws, with an Urban Klavzar triple sprinkled in the mix, put the Gators up 19-12 at the 13:03 mark
Dia temporarily stopped the bleeding on two different occasions with successful jump shots, but it was not enough to stifle Florida’s momentum, as his buckets were the only ones made by Ole Miss in a near-seven-minute span. The Gators’ lead hovered around eight to 12 points the rest of the half, with the Rebels threatening at times, yet inconsistently. Florida took a 43-32 advantage into the intermission and led the rebounding battle by nine boards.
Dia and Kamardine scored the first buckets of the half, allowing Ole Miss to eat into its deficit. Florida effectively countered with a Haugh jumper and a triple by Boogie Fland to erase the progress the Rebels had made. The Gators, keeping a lead foot on the pedal, took a 17-point lead midway through the frame and never looked back.
Matters went from bad to worse for Ole Miss when a Klavzar lob to Isaiah Brown put the Gators up 72-51 with 8:42 remaining in regulation — amid a more than three-minute scoring drought for the home Rebels. Changing things up in what seemed to be a last-ditch attempt to claw back into the game, Ole Miss started to press defensively with seven minutes left.
The move worked at first, with the red and blue forcing a turnover and getting a pair of points courtesy of Travis Perry’s free throws. The Rebels used that momentum to cut the deficit to 15 points at the 6:11 mark. But that was the closest the Rebels would get to their foe. Florida quickly countered, building the lead back up to 20 points in under a minute, and the proverbial white flag was seemingly waved by Ole Miss frontman Chris Beard.
“We’re in the midst of a lot of really hard times right now, but I can assure you that there’s a lot of character in our locker room. There’s no quit in there. Guys continue to compete, want to be coached, and play together,” Beard, who was complimentary of Florida, said after the game. “One thing I can say about us is that we’re continuing to try. We’re continuing to do everything we can [to win].”
3-point shooting and rebounding were the primary differences in the game. Florida shot a whopping 50% from deep, connecting on 11 triples, while Ole Miss was a mere 2-16, or 13%, from behind the arc. The Gators had a 39-24 rebounding advantage. Ole Miss was without Kezza Giffa in the matchup, and Eduardo Klafke was very limited in action after not seeing any action in Wednesday’s game at Texas A&M.
Next up for Ole Miss is a Wednesday night home battle versus LSU. The game will tip off at 8 p.m. with the SEC Network and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations handling the broadcast.