TJ’s Takeaways: What We Learned in Ole Miss’ 88-103 Loss to Alabama

OXFORD, Miss. — On Wednesday night, the Ole Miss Rebels suffered a hard-fought defeat in what some may argue was the fastest paced contest of the season. Head coach Chris Beard’s group knew what was on the line with the matchup and came out firing against an Alabama team that was trying to hold onto its share of first place in the SEC.

The Rebels found success early, jumping out to a fourteen point lead in the first half.  Alabama also quickly found some offensive firepower, storming back and scoring 64 points in the second half in route to the 103-88 victory for Nate Oats’ squad.

Ole Miss shot 52% from the field and had a big scoring output from Allen Flanigan (28 PTS) and Jaemyn Brakefield (21 PTS). With the loss, the Rebels’ record falls to 19-9 and 6-9 in SEC play. Alabama was led by Mark Sears (26 PTS) and got a big impact off the bench from Davin Cosby Jr. (15 PTS).

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.

Alabama flipped the switch and Ole Miss wasn’t ready to react…

Watch out… When observing Alabama basketball under Nate Oats, trends start to form. This wasn’t the first time the Tide had struggled to shoot early on before finding success and gaining the momentum back entirely. The Tide plays with pace, attack and take a lot of threes. Wednesday night was another one of those occasions.

At the time, Alabama was 2-13 from three and then it switched. Ole Miss was up fourteen before Alabama stormed back, making three triples in what was part of an 11-0 Alabama run. Then it was all Bama. 77 points in the game’s final 25 minutes. 64 points in the second half. Ole Miss couldn’t come up with an answer on defense after starting with one of the better performances of conference play.

Some of this was a product of a strong Alabama team who is led by a good coach. Others parts of it, however, stemmed from Ole Miss having some defensive lapses. Alabama had a few easy opportunities, some of which came in transition, some came off miscommunication and some came from no one helping when a defender chose to go under a ball screen. Some of these came in moments where Ole Miss needed a stop. The Rebels fought hard in this one, but those lapses proved costly. Especially against arguably the best offensive team in the SEC.

Ole Miss is still on the bubble, and has three games left. The Rebels need to be ready to react in all of them. While none are against a team of Alabama’s quality, we’re still waiting to see a near 40-minute performance from this group. From here on out, it’s  the standard. From now til Nashville, the awareness is raised with this team’s back against the wall.

The Ole Miss Offense Did Enough…

Chris Beard’s group shot 52% from the field, put up 88 points at home, and made eight threes at a 36% clip. In prior games, Ole Miss had struggled with getting out of 4-5+ minute scoring droughts, but the Rebels minimized that on Wednesday to only one real drought. It just so happened to come when Alabama began their run, but all in all that was a strong performance on the offensive end.

The Ole Miss offense did enough to get you the win. The last time Ole Miss scored 88 points or more and lost was in the 2017-2018 season. That group would score 90+ and lose on three separate occasions in Andy Kennedy’s last year. Back to this game — Jaemyn Brakefield had a good offensive game and Allen Flanigan made tough shots, took smart threes, and got to the line. Brandon Murray started and made tough shots, TJ Caldwell made a few critical ones. And while Matthew Murrell and Jaylen Murray didn’t have their best outing, the rest of the team stepped up.

The Rebels Now Sit In the Next Four Out…

What needs to happen for Ole Miss to make the NCAA tournament? It’s the question on everyone’s mind. The Rebels could’ve benefitted from a win at home against South Carolina or against Alabama. They didn’t get either and now the tournament chances are slim. However, Ole Miss is still on Joe Lunardi’s bracketeology bubble, sitting in the next four out category. With three games left in the regular season, the Rebels need to look clean.

CBB Analyst Jon Fanta, called out Ole Miss last night. Specifically Fanta mentioned the quality of games Ole Miss played in. Fanta stated “You don’t have a single Q2 win! You’ve stacked together ridiculous Q3 and Q4 records!” While Fanta is a rather emphatic character, part of what he said does hold merit. Ole Miss currently owns four wins against Q1 and Q2 teams. Some of these bubble teams have 7-10 wins in those two quadrants.

To close the year, Ole Miss has a Q3 game against Missouri, follow that with back-to-back Q2 opportunities. The first of those is a road contest against Georgia, before they then host fellow bubble team Texas A&M at home to end the year. Ole Miss needs to win all three of these contests, and that gets them closer to the table with the rest of the group.

The other teams that could help Ole Miss out a bit are NC State and Memphis. At this point, I am a believer that your resume is who you are, but both NC State and Memphis sit between 75-80 in the NET rankings at the time of writing, sitting just outside FAU/UAB. NC State could rise up with a win over top-10 teams UNC and Duke. Memphis could rise up with a win over UAB and/or FAU. Who knows the outcome there, but the Rebels could afford the help.

Lastly, Ole Miss will have to make a mini-run in Nashville. The Rebels could benefit from a couple of wins on a neutral court to help build that resume. A win against the aforementioned Alabama or Mississippi State could’ve eased that pressure, but this is how it stands for Ole Miss.