No. 25 Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Travels to LSU

OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) Fresh off a major win over No. 14 Kentucky at home this past week, the No. 25 Ole Miss men’s basketball team looks to take their momentum on the road as they travel to LSU on Saturday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Team Facts

No. 25 Ole Miss Rebels (Record: 17-6, 6-4 SEC)

Head Coach: Chris Beard • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (37-18) • 274-116 career record (13th Season)

LSU Tigers (Record: 12-10, 1-8 SEC)

Head Coach: Matt McMahon • 3rd Season at LSU (43-45) • 197-112 career record (10th Season)

On the Air

Television/Online: SEC Network

Ole Miss Radio

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

Series history vs. LSU

The second-most played rivalry in Ole Miss history, this will be the 219th game between the Rebels and Tigers, with LSU leading the series 127-91. Tied for the 55th-most played rivalry in all of college basketball, the first game was played back in 1910, the second season of Ole Miss men’s basketball. When playing in Baton Rouge, the Tigers own a 78-31 advantage. The Tigers have claimed seven of the past 10 games, but the Rebels have won three of the last four including a 77-65 win in Oxford earlier this season.

Last Meeting: January 11, 2025 (W, 77-65, Oxford, Miss.)

• It was a defensive-forward game to start, with Ole Miss holding a slim advantage at halftime 28-26, before the Rebels exploded for 49 in the second half to win by 12.

• Malik Dia (Ole Miss): 19 points, seven rebounds, one assist, two blocks.

• Cam Carter (LSU): 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, one block, two steals.

Scouting the Tigers

LSU currently holds a record of 12-10 on the season, having gone 1-8 in conference action. Since the two last met on January 11, the Tigers have gone 1-6. LSU holds key wins during their non-conference schedule over Kansas State, UCS, and Florida State. Their win during the SEC schedule came on January 14 against Arkansas. They sit in 15th place in the current SEC standings, and own a NET Ranking of 78.

The ninth-leading scorer in the SEC, LSU is paced offensively by Kansas State transfer Cam Carter, averaging 17.0 points per game. He’s continued to ride a hot hand through SEC play, scoring 16 or more in each of LSU’s first seven conference games. Shooting over 44 percent from the floor, Carter has knocked down a team-best 51 three pointers. The Tigers have been led on the glass by Corey Chest, who averages 7.2 boards per game, the 10th-best clip in the conference.

LSU ranks in the top-half of the SEC in numerous defensive categories, including their 5.2 blocks per game (5th SEC, 16th NCAA), field goal percentage defense at 40.8 (6th SEC, 50th NCAA), and their 26.5 defensive rebounds per game (4th SEC, 62nd NCAA). Three Tigers average a block or more per game: Daimion Collins (1.7 BPG), Corey Chest (1.2 BPG), and Jalen Reed (1.0 BPG).

In his third season at the helm, LSU is led by head coach Matt McMahon who was hired before the 2022-23 season after a successful run at Murray State. While with the Racers, McMahon put together four 20-win seasons in his seven years, including three NCAA Tournament births and a historical 31-win season in 2021-22. He helped guide Murray State to four regular season and three tournament conference titles, and was named the OVC Coach of the Year in 2022.

Wildcat-nipped

On Tuesday, February 4, the Rebels hosted No. 14 Kentucky on ESPN and showed out in primetime in front of the nation, picking up a program-building win over the Wildcats 98-84. The Rebels jumped out to a hot start, scoring 54 points in the first half, the most in the first 20 minutes of action since November of 2013. The team finished with 98 points, the most Ole Miss has ever scored against Kentucky since first playing them in 1925, led by a season-best 24 points from Matthew Murrell who made six shots makes from three.

The facilitators for the Rebels offense, points guards Jaylen Murray and Sean Pedulla combined for 18 assists, with Murray posting a double-double on 15 points and 10 dimes, while Pedulla’s 8 helpers were a season-high. As a team, Ole Miss posted 24 assists and just one turnover, the highest assist-to-turnover ration in a single game by any team all year, and the highest in the NCAA since 2019. It was the fewest turnovers in an SEC game in the past 25 seasons, and was the first team over those 25 seasons to dish out more than 20 assists and turn the ball over fewer than two times against a ranked opponent. It was the second game head coach Chris Beard has coached where his team had just one turnover, after a game at Little Rock on March 1, 2016 where the Trojans had 20 assists and one turnover in an 89-80 win over Arkansas State.

Battle-tested

The schedule for Ole Miss has been, and continues to be, one of the most difficult in the nation. As of February 6, they own the nation’s seventh-toughest remaining strength of schedule according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index. Their past opposition win percentage of 65.5 ranks as the eighth-highest in the nation, while their remaining opponent’s win percentage of 73.0 is the seventh highest in all of college basketball. Their cumulative strength-of-schedule win percentage of 67.4 is the fifth highest in the country.

Lunardi says “dance”

Updated each Tuesday and Friday, the latest bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Ole Miss as a five seed in the East Region. They are projected to face 12-seed George Mason in Providence, R.I., paired with four-seeded Michigan State vs. 13th-seeded Akron. The highest seed for the Ole Miss program came in the 2001 tournament, when they were set as a three seed and reached the Sweet 16. Lunardi’s latest projections has 13 teams from the SEC earning a ticket to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, a number that would be the most for a single conference all time.

NETworking

The 2024-25 NET Rankings made their debut on Monday, December 2 and Ole Miss has since climbed their way to No. 20 in the nation. Since the ranking’s first iteration at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season, their ranking of 13th on January 20 is the highest-ever NET Ranking for the Ole Miss program.

As of February 6, the entire SEC is ranked among the top 100, with 14 of the 16 programs sitting inside the top 50, eight in the top 25, and four in the top 10.