No. 19 Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Hosts Rival Mississippi State Saturday in SJB Pavilion

OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) The seventh ranked matchup of their SEC schedule, the No. 19 Ole Miss men’s basketball team is set to welcome No. 22 Mississippi State to the SJB Pavilion on Saturday, February 15 at 5 p.m. and on ESPN2.

TEAM FACTS

No. 19/23 Ole Miss Rebels (Record: 19-6, 8-4 SEC)
Head Coach: Chris Beard • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (39-18) • 276-116 career record (13th Season)

No. 22/RV Mississippi State Bulldogs (Record: 17-7, 5-6 SEC)
Head Coach: Chris Jans • 3rd Season at Mississippi State (59-34) • 202-78 career record (9th Season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: ESPN2
Play-by-Play: John Schriffen
Analyst: Richard Hendrix

OLE MISS RADIO


Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Analyst: Marc Dukes

GAMEDAY PROMOS


Fans are encouraged to wear powder blue, with powder blue poms available to all fans.

CELEBRATING THE 2025 ALL-GIRLS DIVISION 1A NATIONAL CHAMPIONS


The Ole Miss cheer team will be available pregame in the concourse for autographs in the All-American hallway. Photos on the concourse with the team and National Championship trophy will be available as well. The team will be recognized on the court at halftime.

SERIES HISTORY VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE


The 12th most-played matchup in all of college basketball, this will be the 272nd meeting between the Rebels and Bulldogs dating back to 1914. While Mississippi State holds the all-time series lead at 151-120, Ole Miss leads when playing in Oxford 89-47. With Ole Miss at No. 19 and Mississippi State at No. 22 in the latest AP Poll, this will be the second-ever matchup between the two programs while both ranked, with the first coming just last month in Starkville. In their first of two meetings during the regular season this year, the Bulldogs won in a tight 84-81 overtime battle. The two schools split the series last season, with Ole Miss coming out on top in Oxford 86-82 before Mississippi State won 83-71 on their home court a few weeks later.

LAST MEETING: January 18, 2025 (L, 81-84 (OT), Starkville, Miss.)


• The 15th-ranked Bulldogs took an early lead on the Rebels, leading by eight at halftime. Ole Miss would battle back in the second, with Matthew Murrell hitting a clutch three at the top of the arc to send the game to overtime, before the home team won by three.

• Jaemyn Brakefield (Ole Miss): 20 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal.

• Riley Kugel (Mississippi State): 21 points, three rebounds, two assists, one block, two steals.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS


Mississippi State comes to Oxford with a season record of 17-7, having gone 5-6 in conference action. They picked up notable wins in non-conference action against Utah, SMU, No. 18 Pittsburgh, and No. 21 Memphis. In SEC play, the Bulldogs began with wins over South Carolina and Vanderbilt, before an overtime win over No. 21 Ole Miss, South Carolina once again in overtime, and at Georgia. State owns a ranking of 22nd in the recent AP Poll, and is receiving votes in the Coaches Poll. They sit in ninth in the latest SEC standings, and own a NET Ranking of 30.

Sophomore guard Josh Hubbard leads the Bulldogs and ranks fourth in the conference with an average of 17.6 points per game, and ranks second in the SEC sinking 3.21 three-pointers per contest. Averaging 4.0 assists as well, Hubbard’s assist-turnover ratio of 3.35 ranks second in the SEC and ranks 10th in the nation. They’re led in rebounding by KeShawn Murphy at 7.5 per game. On the defensive end, Cameron Matthews averages a conference-high 2.50 steals per outing, which ranks ninth nationally.

Similar to Ole Miss, Mississippi State has had plenty of success taking care of the ball, as they rank No. 36 in the nation in both turnover margin (+3.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.48). Just like the Rebels, they generate many of their turnovers off steals, averaging 9.3 per game to rank 22nd in the country and third in the SEC. The Bulldogs rank 19th in the NCAA in bench points per game, scoring an average of 30.4 per outing outside of their starters.

Currently in his third year with the program, head coach Chris Jans is one of the winningest coaches in college basketball, with a career percentage of 72.1 which ranks as the 13th best among active coaches. He’s won 21 games in each of his first two seasons in Starkville, and joined the program from New Mexico State, where he accumulated 122 wins to just 32 losses over five seasons. He got his first Division I head coaching position at Bowling Green during the 2014-15 season, after years of success at the junior college level.

MAGIC NUMBER IN SIGHT


With 19 wins on the season, Ole Miss has their eyes set on a 20-win campaign for the second year in a row, a feat last accomplished in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. A win on Saturday, February 15 against Mississippi State would be the fourth-fastest to the 20-win-mark (26 games), after Ole Miss reached that point in 24 games during 2000-01, and 25 games in both 1997-98 and 1936-37. It would be the 19th 20-win season in program history, and the 14th since the year 2000.

“POLL” POSITION


In the latest top-25 polls released this past Monday, Ole Miss ranks No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Their current run of 12 straight weeks in the AP Top 25 is the longest streak since the 1997-98 season, when the Rebels held a ranking the entire season. Ranked No. 15 in the Coaches Poll on December 9, it was the highest ranking in a national poll since the Rebels were No. 14 in the AP Poll on January 4, 2010, and the highest position in the Coaches Poll since they sat in 15th on January 21 in 2008.

– Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports