Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Handles Rider, 75-51

OXFORD, Miss. — It was a tale of two halves for Ole Miss men’s basketball Tuesday night against Rider in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion as the Rebels pulled away to defeat Rider handily, 75-51.

In the first half, there was a lid on the rim for both teams. Ole Miss struggled to find good shots, and when they did they found a way to rattle out as the Rebels could only muster 31 points. Ole Miss shot 12-of-35 from the field and 3-for-12 from deep in the first half, and free throws continued to be an issue.

Rider experienced much of the same problems as they were sluggish out of the gate, making 31% of their field goals and shooting 11% (1-9) from deep.

Second-half surge

In the second half, we saw the real potential of this Ole Miss basketball team. It needed a spark. No, it needed a jolt. They got just that in the second.

Robert Allen brings a tremendous amount of energy to this team. Early in the second, he and Tye Fagan helped the Rebels go on a 6-0 scoring run that sent the lead up to ten. This energy then began to spread as Ole Miss would later go on an absolute scoring explosion.

Jarkel Joiner would hit back-to-back-to-back triples that would kick off a 15-0 run. Jaemyn Brakefield and Matthew Murrell would also hit a couple of triples during the run and that lid that had been on the basket was blown way off.

The Rebels would surge ahead to a game-high 29-point lead on that run.

Ole Miss shot 45% from the field in the second and improved its three-point shooting (31%) and free throw (71%) numbers in the second.

GAME BOX SCORE

Ole Miss would go on to finish this one out, 75-51, and improve to 5-2 on the season.

Jarkel Joiner led all scorers with 18 points. He was followed by Matthew Murrell who added 14 and Robert Allen who added 10.

Nysier Brooks notched the most rebounds in an Ole Miss game since Sebastian Saiz in 2017 with his 15 tonight. The 57 rebounds by Ole Miss was the most since the 2007 season when the Rebels recorded 64 against Troy.

Player Performances

Starters

Austin Crowley: 10 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists. He’s the best facilitator on this team and he found Joiner for those open corner threes tonight.

Jarkel Joiner: 18 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds. Caught fire in the second half. Primary scorer. When he gets hot there’s not many better. He’s a couple of shots away from lighting any team up at any given moment.

Luis Rodriquez: Good night defensively for Luis. Struggled on offense. Only played 15 minutes and had three shot opportunities.

Robert Allen: 11 points, 8 rebounds. He was what this team needed. Saw some confidence tonight. Attempted a drive off of a face-up, shot a couple of three. Good cutter, good energy. He played his game and played it better than everyone else on the court.

Nysier Brooks: 15 rebounds in 25 minutes. Would have liked to have seen more shots, but Rider schemed around letting him get looks.

Bench 

Jaemyn Brakefield:  While he struggled to get into a rhythm, he still managed to tally 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Matthew Murrell: 14 points and 2 nice steals. Murrell looked comfortable tonight, making two smooth threes and had a windmill dunk.

Tye Fagan: 9 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists. He finds a way to fill the stat sheet any time he plays.

(Feature image: Ole Miss Athletics)

TJ Oxley

TJ Oxley is the Vice President of Operations and the Director of Community Relations for The Rebel Walk. He is also the Director of Basketball Content and Senior Basketball Writer. He has over five years of experience providing in-depth analysis of college basketball through multiple platforms. A former MBA graduate of Ole Miss, TJ started with The Rebel Walk in 2019.