Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Dominates Louisiana Monroe

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss men’s basketball came away with their second win of the season on Friday night, taking down the University of Louisiana Monroe Warhawks, 86-65, at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion.

Starters for the Rebels were: James Scott, Malik Dia, Travis Perry, AJ Storr and Ilias Kamardine. Storr and Kamardine led the way for Ole Miss as they combined for 34 points

First Half

Tonight Chris Beard and his Rebels squad controlled the game from the beginning, including winning the tipoff and eventually opening the scoring after two scoreless possessions from both teams.

A common theme began with the opening free throws as AJ Storr used those to start his team-leading 16-point first half.

ULM eventually got their first bucket of the night with a three-pointer from Alex Molofeev. That three was the only bucket for a two-minute period for ULM, but with just under 12 minutes to go in the half, ULM found itself within two points of Ole Miss.

However, this was quickly ended as Ilias Kamardine took over the offensive side of the ball with both his scoring and his  passing, building a lead for Ole Miss which would not return to within 10 points for the rest of the half.

The Rebels were lead by Storr and Kamardine throughout the first half with both of them notching double-digit points– Storr 16, Kamardine 12– with Kamardine also recording 4 assists.

Ole Miss shot 45.9% from the field, 40% from three, and went 5-8 at the free throw line.

In comparison, ULM shot 34.6% from the field, 42% from three and went 4-6 from the free throw line.

A helpful factor in Ole Miss keeping ULM at such a low rate from the field came, in part, to good contests and Corey Chest and James Scott combining for 3 big-time blocks.

Overall, the Rebels ended the half with a commanding 47-28 lead.

Second Half

Ole Miss quickly built its advantage even more as the Rebels began the second half 4-9 from the field, while holding ULM to 2-9 from the field. The Rebels maintained a 56-33 lead through the first five minutes of the second half.

The second half saw more of the same dominance from Ole Miss as they entered the final 10 minutes of play with a 68-42 lead behind great defense and rebounding which allowed them to maintain their large advantage.

Ole Miss kept their complete-game mindset over the course of the next five minutes as they pushed their lead to 75-47 with not much pushback from ULM.

The Rebels maintained their large advantage for the remainder of the half, capping off a dominant night on Craddock Court as they move to 2-0 on the season.

Notables

• Ole Miss held the lead for every second of the game.
• The defense was lights out, recording 6 blocks and 9 steals.
• Ole Miss converted 24 points off turnovers.
• Ilias Kamardine is a weapon for this team, providing 15 points and 7 assists, as well as 3 steals and a block
• AJ Storr keeps on scoring, leading the team with 19 points.
• Ole Miss had 3-double digit scorers: AJ Storr (19), Ilias Kamardine (15) and Malik Dia (11)
• AJ Storr has begun the season 8-of-11 from three to begin the season.
• Ole Miss is 20-2 when outrebounding its opponent under Chris Beard.
• The Rebels never trailed against the Warhawks.
• Ole Miss got 37 points off the bench tonight

Ole Miss finished the night 47% from the field, 45% from three and 69% from the free throw line, while holding ULM to 37% from the field, 35% from three and 58% from the free throw line.

A Look Ahead

The Rebels will return to the court on Tuesday, hosting Memphis in an early-season test. Ole Miss and the Tigers will tip off at 8 p.m. CT at the SJB Pavilion.