TJ’s Takeaways: What We Learned in Ole Miss’ 74-53 Win Over Troy

OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss men’s basketball program continued its undefeated season Tuesday night after defeating Troy 74-53 in front of the Rebel faithful at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion. With the win, Ole Miss’ record moves to 11-0 on the season. This marks the first time since the 2000-01 season that Ole Miss has achieved that record.

The Rebels found an identity in their defense tonight. Troy recorded a season-high 25 turnovers tonight, largely in part to that stingy Ole Miss defense. The Rebels registered eight blocked shots and 16 steals in the dominant performance. On the offensive end, as of the writing of this article, the Rebels are one of four undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA. The No. 25 Rebels recently were ranked in the AP Poll for the first time since 2019.

This series, TJ’s Takeaways, is here to help identify things that really stand out from the games, things you may not be able to find from a box score. If you’re looking for a recap of the game, don’t worry we’ve got you covered. Check it out HERE.

Let’s get to the takeaways! 

Ole Miss is a Top-25 Team and Today the Rebs Looked Like One

It took Ole Miss a long time to get into the rankings. There are a lot of reasons one could claim for the holdup — debatable issues like margin of victory, strength of schedule and more. Ole Miss was the last of the few remaining undefeated teams to make it into the Top 25. Now that they’re there, the Rebels need to prove they belong and they can do that by continuing to win and by winning big in order to have the identity and the resume of a top team. That will help build the culture that head coach Chris Beard is working towards.

On Tuesday night they did just that. The Ole Miss defense has created an identity throughout the year. Teams will struggle to try and score on the interior. When the Ole Miss defense is at its best, the pressure on the outside paired with the length on the help makes it tough to create clean looks — especially when people attack and space begins to condense. In the first half tonight, we saw an example of just that.

At halftime the score of this game was 31-22 with the Rebels ahead. This was against a Troy team that prior to tonight was in the top-25 in the nation in scoring, averaging 85.8 points per game. The Rebels, as they did against NC State, took away the inside, especially in the first half. Troy scored 16 total points in the paint, of which four came in the first half. The Ole Miss defense took away the interior entirely in the first half as Troy was 2-16 from the interior.

How did this happen?

It starts with Jamarion Sharp. The elite shotblocker made his presence known early by rejecting six shots in the first half by himself. It got to the point where Troy looked elsewhere to kick back out for perimeter looks when Sharp was down low. When ball movement occurred, the help defense was keen. Give credit to players like Matthew Murrell (we’ll get to him in a bit) who excelled at weakside positioning and consistently made passes tough, if not outright poking balls away from the interior. It’s tough to score in the interior when you get swarmed there, but that is the No-Middle defense.

This defensive identity can help out, especially when the offense tries to get going. It took a second (half) but when it did, the Rebel offense was full force. Ole Miss found success behind its stars in a second half that featured a 50% shooting effort. The Rebels are now getting efficient shooting and notably from the perimeter where they look like a new team compared to the first few games of the year. Pair an efficient offense with a stifling defense and you get a top-25 team.

The Birthday Duo Knows How to Celebrate

Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was by design, but Ole Miss scheduled a game for today, December 19th. This also happens to be the birthday of Rebel players Jaemyn Brakefield and Matthew Murrell. The duo didn’t disappoint today as the two were Ole Miss’ leading scorers.

Murrell led the way with an 18-point outing. Even more impressive was the way he got the team started on the defensive end. Last year Murrell graded out as a defender in the 93rd percentile. This year he still grades out to be really good (76th). It was a career day for the senior as Murrell recorded a program-best 10 steals. That figure tied the all time record for the SEC. Murrell excelled today at poking the ball away or jumping passing lanes which led to some highlight level dunks in transition the other way.

𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙏. 𝙈𝙐𝙍𝙍𝙀𝙇𝙇.

First double-double in school history including steals 😱

He’s got 18 points to go along with his ten takeaways!@matt_murre11 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/EPeEknIrZG

— Ole Miss Men’s Basketball (@OleMissMBB) December 20, 2023

The other half of the duo is Jaemyn Brakefield. In the last game against Cal, Brakefield exploded for a career-high 27 points. Tonight, Brakefield followed it up with another efficient output. In the second half, he was key in a stretch where Ole Miss extended its lead out. His early offense in the second added seven points as part of that initial second-half 9-2 run. Brakefield’s floor spacing spot-up ability and transition play have been valuable this year and when he is on, the ceiling of this Ole Miss team is elevated.

Allen Flanigan Deserves More Credit

During the late stretch, we’ve seen some elevated play from different Ole Miss players. Jaylen “Juju” Murray has taken control of the point, as well as the aforementioned duo of Jaemyn Brakefield and Matthew Murrell, and many more. It feels long ago that we talked about Allen Flanigan, and him being the leading scorer in the SEC at one point.

Earlier this year as Ole Miss was figuring things out, Flanigan had a higher usage. There were instances where he took 15+ shots a game and scored in the mid-to-high 20s. However, Ole Miss is starting to figure more things out and get more players to play as well. In all of this, Flanigan hasn’t had as high of a usage but his play has still been elite.

The past four games, Flanigan has taken 10-11 shots per game. He has still scored in double figures each game and found ways to impact the game in other ways (rebounding, passing, defense). It’s the ultimate teammate move. The team is winning and evolving along the way and while things become more balanced, let’s not forget how well Allen Flanigan is playing and how important he has been to this group.

Who Will Step Up Off The Bench?

A lot of credit goes to Coach Beard and the entire basketball program for getting to this mark, moving to 11-0 and stepping into the light of the national media as a result of its play on the court. No top-25 team is perfect, though. No team is perfect. There is always something to work or improve upon. The Rebels’ offensive core has performed really well this season, but does an area for improvement come from the bench?

The Rebels have quality wins over some high major programs — all while managing to add not one but two players into the rotation and trying to catch them up to speed. When SEC play hits, the Rebels will need to use their depth and find some scoring from it. Prior to tonight’s contest, the Rebels averaged 13.8 bench points per game. That mark ranked them in the 13th percentile of the NCAA. Tonight, Ole Miss had six bench points. This was on only eight shot attempts.

The hope is that as Brandon Murray and Moussa Cisse continue to get into season flow, they can help aid TJ Caldwell in this. This situation to add players after a season started isn’t a normal one for teams to navigate, and it will be interesting to see how Coach Beard continues to do so. Needless to say, things are heading in the right direction

Next Up

Next up, Ole Miss faces Southern Mississippi on Saturday in a neutral-site contest in Biloxi. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 PM.