Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Defeats Oral Roberts, 100-68
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) A dominant second half propelled the Ole Miss men’s basketball team to its fifth win of the year, taking down Oral Roberts 100-68, Thursday night at the SJB Pavilion. Ole Miss was led by Sean Pedulla and Matthew Murrell who each scored 19 points for the Rebels.
Ole Miss (5-0) scored an even 50 points in both halves tonight. The Rebels took a 10-point lead into the break thanks to 15 from Sean Pedulla on 5-of-8 shooting. Ole Miss led by as many as 12 before Oral Roberts (2-4) went on a 13-3 run to tie the game at 29 with 5:13 to play in the first half.
Pedulla would hit back-to-back threes to stretch the lead to six before taking a 50-40 advantage into the break.
Ole Miss controlled the pace coming out of the gates in half number two shooting 55.9 percent (19-for-34) over the final 20 minutes of action. Jaemyn Brakefield led the way with 10 second-half points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field.
A balanced attack stretched the lead to 20 at the under-12 media timeout as 10 different Rebels scored a bucket in the second half.
Defensively, the Rebels forced 10 Golden Eagle turnovers in the second half, winning the points-off-turnover battle by a 21-2 margin.
Hot shooting continued down the stretch as the Rebels knocked down six triples shooting 46.2 percent (6-for-13) from beyond the arc. In the second half alone, Ole Miss as a team had 13 helpers and only five turnovers.
The Rebels finished with 26 assists, good for the most in a game since the 2019-20 season.
With his team leading 19 points, Murrell surpassed Murphy Holloway for 15th on the all-time Ole Miss scoring list.
Malik Dia led the Rebels with eight rebounds and Jaylen Murray led all passers with six assists and no turnovers. Murray now has 19 straight helpers without a turnover dating back to the second half of the regular season opener against LIU.
Ole Miss returns to action next Thursday, Nov. 28 in San Diego for a matchup against 4-0 BYU. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. CT in round one of the Rady Children’s Invitational.
NOTABLES
- Sean Pedulla and Matthew Murrell each had 19 points to lead Ole Miss in the scoring column. It marks Pedulla’s second game this season leading the team in points and Murrell’s first.
- Ole Miss now has four straight games with 10 or fewer turnovers. The Rebels had a +13 turnover margin and entered tonight’s matchup eighth in the country with a +8.5 avg. Ole Miss improves to 23-10 under Chris Beard when committing 15 or fewer TO’s.
- Defense to Offense: Ole Miss now has three games this season with 10+ steals. Sean Pedulla led the Rebels with five takeaways tonight, tying a career-high.
- Five Rebels scored in double-figures: Pedulla (19), Murrell (19), Davon Barnes (13), Jaemyn Brakefield (13), and Mikeal Brown-Jones (12). It marks the second straight game five players have scored double-digits.
- Ole Miss is currently riding an 18-game non-conference win streak, the best in all of college basketball.
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.
