TJ’s Takeaways: What We Learned In Ole Miss’ Win At Missouri

For the first time since the 2018-2019 season, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team has achieved a 20+ win season. In Saturday’s win over Missouri, Ole Miss started off strong with a 19-point lead at the half. The Tigers wouldn’t roll over as Dennis Gates’ team came roaring back with a 52-point second half to make for a thrilling ending.

Ole Miss would prevail on the road, and would pick up the win 84-78. The Rebels provided a consistent effort on the offensive end, shooting 50% in both halves while Missouri had a polarizing game with a cold first half, followed by the second-half eruption for 52 points.

With the win, Ole Miss improved its record to 20-9 and 7-9 in SEC play. The Tigers have struggled this year and remain winless in SEC play at 0-16. Chris Beard’s group was led by Matthew Murrell (21 PTS) and Jaylen Murray (16 PTS) who both made three 3-pointers in the contest. The Rebels also got a big effort from Jaemyn Brakefield who added 19 points and 6 rebounds. On the Missouri side, the Tigers were led by Sean East II who added 27 points for the Tigers.

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.

Big Help from the Bench

Ole Miss only went nine deep and for the larger part of the season has been a team that is thin. Their 13.9 points off the bench average is last in the SEC. So when Ole Miss gets a mighty contribution off the bench, it’s pretty noteworthy. Now points are not the only contributions the bench can make. But for Ole Miss, getting the players to come in and contribute to the game winning has been a big key for a lot of their wins this year.

Saturday was no different. Jamarion Sharp, TJ Caldwell, and Austin Nunez did just that. Sharp made all 7-feet-5 inches of his presence felt against Mizzou with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 6 blocks and a steal. It may have been his best conference game as herebounded effectively, showed incredible timing on his blocks and was a defensive anchor in the paint. He played a big role in the 8:07 second field goal drought the Tigers had in the first half.

Caldwell came in and added 9 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. He was the leading scorer off the bench for the Rebels. He also did it while adding shots inside the arc. Austin Nunez continues to be this energy hyper-active defensive guard for the Rebels. The impact that Nunez brings doesn’t always show up in the box score.

Per CBB Analytics, the defensive lineup of Nunez, Murrell, B. Murray, Flanigan, and Sharp has a defensive rating of 63.1 and ranks in the 99th percentile in all of college basketball. The other major group with Nunez on the court is slightly below the threshold but is an elite combination with Nunez, Murrell, Caldwell, Flanigan and Brakefield. That group sits with a defensive rating of 56.9. With this, we can help show that when Ole Miss needs a defensive run and to get some stops, Nunez will be checking in shortly.

A Unique Approach by Missouri

The 52-point second half by Missouri was a big turnaround and made this game exciting to nearly the very end. The Tigers shot 18-26 from the field for the final 20:00 minutes and 13-20 from the free throw line. Missouri stayed inside the three point line with high percentage looks and shot 69.2% from the half and was 15-18 on two point field goals. A lot of that came from the creation of Sean East II and Aidan Shaw.

One of the reasons Missouri was able to get back into this game was the way they were able to make opportunities to get the ball back. Ole Miss only attempted 16 shots in the half compared to the Tigers’ 26 and out-rebounded the Tigers in the second half. Missouri only had four offensive rebounds. There were two keys that Missouri focused on to get back into the game.

First the Tigers, played fast and got in transition. They had 15 points off turnovers and 26 total points in the paint. The second was through a unique approach to fouling in the second half. A gamble by Dennis Gates, Missouri legally fouled the Ole Miss bigs in the system where it was a basketball play. Through this, Moussa Cisse and Jamarion Sharp would convert 2-8 from the line in the second half giving the Tigers the opportunity to make up ground. It was a rather unique gamble but one that Missouri benefitted from.

Will Allen Flanigan be healthy going forward?

One of Ole Miss’ leading scorers, Allen Flanigan came off the bench again against Missouri. This was the second game in a row that Flanigan started the game on the bench. This was described as an internal decision by the Ole Miss staff. In the game against Missouri, Flanigan injured his hamstring and played only nine minutes of action. He would not play the entirety of the second half.

With Ole Miss needing to string together wins for a chance to work their way back into the NCAA tournament field, having a veteran presence like Flanigan is needed. On the season, Flanigan has averaged a career-high 15.3 points per game and is the leading rebounder for Ole Miss at 6.3 per contest. The Rebels are in a situation where they have to win out in the regular season and have success in the SEC tournament. More information on the hamstring injury should be made aware in the coming days.

Next Up

Up next for the Rebels is their final regular season road game, as they take a quick turnaround and travel to Athens to face Georgia today, Tuesday, March 5, at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.