TJ Caldwell and Brandon Murray shine as Ole Miss’ bench comes up big in 86-82 win over State
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss men’s basketball improved to 18-3 overall and 5-3 in SEC play Tuesday night after a thrilling 86-82 win over Mississippi State in front of a record-breaking crowd in the SJB Pavilion. (Click here for box score.)
The Rebels now have the opportunity to take down Auburn, the No. 16-ranked team in the nation, on Saturday in Oxford. But before we get there, let’s take a look at something noteworthy from last night.
As outstanding as it was beating State, it was the way the Rebels did so. Ole Miss got some very solid bench play that proved the difference in the game.
In his takeaways from the A&M game, The Rebel Walk’s TJ Oxley talked about the importance of getting backcourt bench help, writing: “Including Saturday’s game against A&M, Ole Miss had averaged 13.4 bench points per game. In conference play, that number goes down to 12.0 points per game.”
Against State, however, the Rebels scored 26 bench points.
When you have Brandon Murray and TJ Caldwell coming off the bench like they did last night, playing more minutes than some of the starters, it makes the Rebels harder to stop.
Caldwell talked after the game about the importance of his teammates being there for one another.
“I think it wasn’t on anybody just to step up. I think it’s a team effort, all of us. If somebody’s not hitting shots, we’ve got enough players where somebody else can hit shots.”
TJ Caldwell
Brandon Murray and Caldwell combined for 24 points, 12 rebounds, and five steals off the bench.
Brandon tallied 18 minutes in the game, scoring 6 points and notching 4 rebounds and two assists. Caldwell played 27 minutes, scoring 18 points and grabbing three rebounds.
Instead of relying just on Jaylen “JuJu” Murray, Jaemyn Brakefield, Allen Flanigan and Matt Murrell to put the majority of the points on the board, the Rebels now have a rotation of five players who can shoot it from anywhere on the floor and drive to the basket effectively.
While Flanigan and Brakefield combined for 15 total points on the night, Murray and Caldwell made their presence felt.
Caldwell, who shot 75 percent from field goal range and 80 percent from three, talked about his performance after the game.
“I work so much, I’m kind of not surprised. I got shots up before the game, and yesterday… I’ve been keeping the work up.”
TJ Caldwell
Coach Beard followed up by praising Caldwell’s performance.
“I’ve been really impressed with his approach the last couple of weeks. He’s got a poise that we feed off of in a lot of ways…this wasn’t a one-game deal. TJ’s been really doing well in practice. He’s getting himself ready. In my mind, this is 4 or 5 straight games where the young guys have been really ready to play and dialed in tonight. The basket opened up to him with his talent; he got two steals, some big rebounds. So it’s a players game. You know we don’t win tonight without TJ’s performance coming off the bench. Really proud of TJ.”
Coach Beard on TJ Caldwell
Saturday will be a great test against Auburn, a team that beat Ole Miss by 23 points just 10 days ago. But despite the tough loss, the Rebs will play at home this time around where they are undefeated on the season.
This Ole Miss team has changed dramatically over the last week-and-a half in every aspect of its game. With the effectiveness of Caldwell and Murray together off the bench, the Rebs have a very good shot at redemption this weekend.
