Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Unveils Roster for 2024-25 Season
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) It was a busy offseason for Chris Beard and his staff as they prepare for year two in Oxford, but hard work on the recruiting trail pays off, as the 2024-25 Ole Miss men’s basketball roster has been set.
Sixteen student-athletes will represent Ole Miss for the 115th season of men’s basketball, highlighted by a depth of experience, scoring ability, and position flexibility. The roster includes 12 players with previous college experience, with over 900 games played, over 500 starts, over 9,000 career points scored, and over 900 career made threes among the group.
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— Ole Miss Men’s Basketball (@OleMissMBB) June 11, 2024
The program welcomes back six returners from a season ago, as Jaemyn Brakefield, Cam Brent, TJ Caldwell, Robert Cowherd, Jaylen Murray, and Matthew Murrell will take the floor for Ole Miss once again.
Returning for his fourth year with the Rebels, Brakefield has proven himself a mainstay in the starting lineup, with 88 career starts for Ole Miss. A forward with strong shooting ability to space the floor, the Jackson, Miss. native became the 43rdplayer in school history to join the 1,000-point club at the end of last season.
After spending the 2022-23 season with the team, Brent saw his first action last year after playing in six games. The guard from Jackson, Miss. closed out the regular season with six minutes against Texas A&M, scoring his first collegiate point while adding an assist and steal.
A member of the 2022 recruiting class, Caldwell is set to begin his third season in Oxford after getting plenty of experience as an underclassman. In 63 career games with the Rebels, the guard as scored 323 points while grabbing 125 rebounds and dishing out 67 assists.
Joining Caldwell in the 2022 high school class, Cowherd returns as a sophomore after redshirting his freshman season. The six-foot four-inch guard from Georgia appeared in 10 games for the Rebels last year, showcasing his shooting ability and intense defensive motor.
One of three starters from a year ago returning to the team, Murray brings his flashy offensive game back to the program for a second year. The New York native started all 32 games for Ole Miss at point guard in 2023-24, finishing third on the team in scoring at 13.8 points per game, and held an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.40, the fourth-best mark in the SEC.
Returning for his fifth season with Ole Miss, Murrell is set to be one of the premiere players in not just the SEC, but all of college basketball in 2024-25. The guard from Memphis, Tenn. ranks 16th in program history with 1,444 career points for the Rebels and fifth in career made threes with 218. He earned All-SEC Second Team and NABC All-District Second Team honors last season.
The program welcomes six new transfers to the team via the transfer portal, including Davon Barnes, Ja’Von Benson, Mikeal Brown-Jones, Dre Davis, Malik Dia, and Sean Pedulla. The highly touted group has been ranked as the No. 14 transfer class in the nation by both On3 and 247Sports.
A guard from Sam Houston, Barnes averaged 13.5 points and 3.5 rebounds last year, highlighted by a 21-point performance against Ole Miss in the Tad Pad game. The second-leading scorer on a team that won 21 games last year, the Memphis, Tenn. native spent his first two college seasons at Texas Southern, where he led the team in scoring as a sophomore.
Entering his fifth year of college basketball, Benson joins the program after playing last season at Hampton, where he averaged 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per game. The team leader in blocks last season with 46, he looks to return his defensive abilities to the SEC, after spending three years with South Carolina.
Another fifth-year senior, Brown-Jones is coming off a first-team all-conference season at UNC Greensboro where he led the team and ranked second in the SoCon in scoring with a clip of 18.9 per game. He also led UNCG and was sixth in the conference with an average of 7.5 rebounds per game. Brown-Jones was ranked as the No. 34 player in the transfer portal and the No. 8 power forward by On3.
One of five members of the Ole Miss roster with over 1,000 career points, Davis spent his first two seasons at Louisville before moving on to Seton Hall for the previous two. A key starter at both programs, Davis recently helped lead Seton Hall to an NIT Championship, earning a spot on the all-tournament team after averaging 16.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game. He was ranked the No. 63 transfer player in the nation by 247Sports, and No. 64 by Rivals.
An athletic forward, Dia spent last season at Belmont where he averaged 16.9 points and led the team in rebounding with 193, all while averaging just over 23 minutes per game. His defensive abilities shined last year as he grabbed 27 steals and blocked 26 shots. He previously spent his freshman season with Vanderbilt, but joins Ole Miss as the No. 15 transfer player in the country according to Rivals.
A key member of Virginia Tech since his freshman season, Pedulla comes to Ole Miss with over 100 games played, over 1,200 career points, and over 300 career assists in three seasons. The point guard led the Hokies in scoring at 16.4 points per game last year and was named to the All-ACC Third Team. Pedulla was ranked the No. 38 transfer in the country by Rivals, and the No. 46 player by 247Sports.
A trio of freshmen and a preferred walk-on round out the roster for Ole Miss.
Listed as the second-highest recruit in program history according to 247Sports, John Bol comes to Oxford from Overtime Elite, where he averaged 10.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game as a senior. The 7’2” forward became the second Ole Miss signee in the past four years to earn a spot in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American game, where he proved to the nation why he earned the No. 54 overall ranking by both On3 and ESPN in the 2024 class.
Eduardo Klafke prepares for his first full season with the program, after he got to spend last spring training with the team as an early enrollee at Ole Miss. After training with the prestigious NBA Academy Latin America, Klafke was ranked the No. 120 player in the 2024 class by On3, and has flashed elite shooting ability and basketball IQ. The 6’5” Brazilian guard comes from a basketball family, as his father Rogerio Klafke played with the Brazilian National team in the 1996 Olympics, and FIBA World Cup in 1994, 1998, and 2002.
A guard from Midland, Texas, Zach Day averaged 24 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists as a senior at Midland Christian last year, where he helped lead his team to a state championship.
Preferred walk-on Max Smith averaged 24 points per game while in high school, but recently earned his degree from Ole Miss after coming to Oxford as a member of the 2020 class.
New season tickets for the 2024-25 Ole Miss basketball season are already on sale and can be purchased by clicking here. Current season ticket holders can renew their tickets beginning July 1.
Courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
