Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Moves to 10-0 with 88-78 Win Over Cal
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – (Release) A dominating offensive showing by the Ole Miss men’s basketball team led to a 10-point victory over Cal at the 2023 Hall of Fame Series, picking up an 88-78 win Saturday night at the Frost Bank Center.
The Rebels’ 88 points was a season best, shooting 50 percent or better from the field and three point line in a game for the third time this year, and the second consecutive game. Jaemyn Brakefield set a new career high with 27 points, connecting on a career-best five makes from beyond the arc.
Just over one minute into the game, Brakefield sunk a corner three to give Ole Miss (10-0) a lead they would hold the rest of the night. A jumper from Jaylen Murray later gave the Rebels a 10-point lead, after starting with an 11-14 shooting performance to begin the game, with the first points of Brandon Murray’s Ole Miss career tying the team’s season-best for first-half three pointers.
While an 8-0 run from California (3-7) brought them back into it, Ole Miss responded and held a 10-point lead or better for a majority of the remaining minutes in the first half, up 46-35 at the midway break.
A 7-1 run from Ole Miss to open the second period forced a timeout from the Golden Bears just over a minute into the final half. The Rebels would lead by as much as 24 points around eight minutes into the second half, up 65-41. At the final media timeout of the game, Ole Miss led by 16 points.
The win moves Ole Miss to 10-0, the fourth time the program has begun a season undefeated through 10 contests. This also marks the sixth-best overall win streak in program history.
Head coach Chris Beard has now led three different programs to a 10-0 record to open the season during his career, guiding Texas Tech in 2018-19 and Little Rock in 2015-16 to the exact same start.
Four additional Rebels joined Brakefield in scoring double digits, as Matthew Murrell sunk four three pointers and added 19, Jaylen Murray scored 14, Allen Flanigan 12, and TJ Caldwell 11.
Murrell surpassed both Jason Harrison and Coolidge Ball on the program’s all-time career points leaderboard, now with 1,084 to rank 37th.
The Rebels dished out 21 assists on the day with only eight turnovers for a ratio of 2.63. Ole Miss entered tonight’s game ranked 53rd in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.44.
The Golden Bears were led in scoring by Jaylon Tyson with 20 points. Fardaws Aimaq posted a double-double with 11 points and a game-best 12 rebounds.
The Rebels return home for their next game on the schedule, hosting Troy on Tuesday, December 19 in the SJB Pavilion at 6 p.m
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
