Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Looks Strong in Charity Exhibition Victory Over Illinois
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) The Ole Miss men’s basketball team was prepared for a test when it scheduled a top-25 matchup for the charity exhibition game to begin the 2024-25 season, rising to the occasion with a 91-74 victory over No. 24 Illinois on Sunday in the SJB Pavilion.
The new-look Rebels proved why Chris Beard has been praising the team’s ability to knock down the three-point shot, as Sean Pedulla, Jaylen Murray, and Malik Dia each connected from deep to quickly make it 9-2. A pair of alley-oops by Jaemyn Brakefield were delivered by guards, Pedulla and Matthew Murrell in quick succession to give Ole Miss a 20-9 lead at the first media timeout.
The Rebels, who will begin the season at No. 24 in the AP Poll, continued to stretch their advantage, as Dia knocked down one of his three makes from deep in the game to put the home team up 20, 34-14 with ten minutes left before halftime. Ole Miss would eventually lead 51-35 at the midway break.
After the Illini cut the Ole Miss lead to 14, the Rebels responded with a strong 9-0 run into the first media stop of the second half, up 62-39. A later run from Illinois was broken up by a smooth turnaround jumper from Dia, setting the score at 68-50 with just under 12 minutes left on the clock.
Freshman forward John Bol would convert a steal from Murray into two points on a fastbreak to give Ole Miss their largest lead of the game at 26 with just under four minutes to go. The Rebels held on to win their exhibition over a strong Illinois team by 17.
Dia paced the team with 18 points, going 7-8 from the field including a 3-3 performance from three. The transfer from Belmont also added three steals on the defensive end. Brakefield chipped in 15 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while Dre Davis (13 points), and Murrell (11 points) scored in double figures as well.
The Illini were led in scoring by Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn with 15.
Ole Miss begins the regular season schedule on Monday, November 4 with a 7:30 p.m. game against Long Island in the SJB Pavilion.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
