TJ’s Takeaway’s: What We Learned From Ole Miss’ 69-56 Win Over Vanderbilt

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss took care of business on Saturday against Vanderbilt. The Rebels won 69-56 in front of the hometown crowd. With the win, head coach Chris Beard has the Rebels 15-1 overall, 2-1 in the SEC and 10-0 at home this season.

Ole Miss continued to find success from beyond the three-point line, shooting 10-25 from deep. Vanderbilt (5-11, 0-3 SEC) managed to keep it relatively close, making some tough shots in the first half, before the Rebels went on a 10-0 run in the second half to extend things out to a more comfortable lead.

Matthew Murrell led the way for Ole Miss adding 24 points. Allen Flanigan (16 points) and Jaylen Murray (12 points) would also find their way into double figures. Moussa Cisse put in another quality performance, adding nine points on a perfect 3-3 shooting from the field. He would also add six rebounds, four of which were offensive. Vanderbilt was led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Tyrin Lawrence (14 points), Jason Rivera-Torres (12 points) and Ezra Manjon (11).

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.

Now lets’s get into the takeaways.

Good Teams Win at Home, Great Teams Don’t Lose at Home

To this point, Ole Miss has exceeded expectations. What Chris Beard has done hasn’t been a turnaround, it’s been a full-on 180. However, things tend to change once conference play hits. Look at Mississippi State last year. That group started 11-0 before SEC play got the best of them. Now a year later, Ole Miss finds itself in a similar situation. Granted, Ole Miss already has two SEC wins to date, but the rest will determine a lot of who this team is.

Saturday’s win was a record-breaking win. This Ole Miss Rebels team now owns the longest win streak at the SJB Pavilion with 10 consecutive victories. It’s a momentous day, but it shouldn’t be a celebration. It should be the standard. That is not to diminish the accomplishment. Chris Beard is one of the best coaches in college basketball. He knows this. There’s been an increase in fan attendance, chants, and interest on gamedays. Now if Ole Miss wants to accelerate things again and exceed more expectations, the Rebels need to continue to win at home. Winning the first two is big — but now Ole Miss has created an atmosphere.

In his press conference, Chris Beard said just that: “We have a home court advantage in Oxford.”

Some of the best programs in the country know to protect their home court. The last time Kansas lost two or more games at home was the 2016-2017 season. The last time Purdue lost more than two, it was 2019-2020. Kentucky has only had that 2020-2021 outlier season in recent memory. Other programs like Duke historically have been in this company.

Ole Miss has that atmosphere and now owns two quality SEC wins at home. It will be interesting to see how the Rebels protect their home court. The fans can continue to make it tough for visitors to win there, as well. One thing is for certain, it’s a great time to watch a basketball game in Oxford!

Cleaning Up the Glass

Ole Miss won the rebounding battle against Vanderbilt. While the Commodores aren’t particularly a tall team (their tallest player with minutes is 6-foot-8), they’ve rebounded okay. They have not necessarily been above average, but rebounding has not been considered a major weakness for them. Ole Miss, on the other hand, has had its fair share of struggles rebounding, particularly on the defensive end.

But from the game’s tip, Ole Miss was in complete control on the glass. The Rebels won the rebounding battle 42-33. Even more impressive was Ole Miss’ first-half performance on the glass. The Rebels won that battle 18-11 and only allowed two offensive rebounds. That set the tone on that end to start. The lack of second chances meant Vanderbilt had to make its shots to stay competitive in this game. The Commodores did make their fair share of tough shots, but if Ole Miss can replicate this style of performance it can help them put together a more complete outing.

Impressively, it was a team emphasis to get on the glass, as six Ole Miss players finished with five-plus rebounds Saturday. Leading the way was Jamarion Sharp with eight rebounds. The guards also found their way to the glass as well as Murrell finished with six, while both Brandon Murray and Jaylen Murray also added five. Allen Flanigan also added six.

Matthew Murrell’s Stellar Shooting Night

The senior guard had arguably the best single-half shooting performance in his Ole Miss career. In the first half, Murrell connected on almost everything, tallying 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting. Four of those field goals came from three. In the second half, Murrell would add two more triples to extend his game tally to 24 points.

Looking a little bit deeper, we can see that a lot of Murrell’s baskets were assisted. Part of the improved efficiency for Murrell this year has been the lack of need for him to create his own look. This year’s group has four guys who are all threats on the court to get their own shot. Flanigan assisted on four of Murrell’s attempts in the first half and the Auburn transfer would finish the game with eight total assists.

If Ole Miss can continue to get Murrell clean looks off the catch, he can continue to be efficient. After today’s game, Murrell had made 36 C&S threes at a 41.4% clip. Today, he logged 17 points in these scenarios.

In the post game press conference, Murrell praised his teammates.

Matthew Murrell

This marks the second-straight 20+ point performance by Murrell.

Next Up

Ole Miss will hit the road for a pair of SEC games next week, beginning with a trip to Baton Rouge to face LSU on Wednesday, January 17 at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.

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.