Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Falls to Tennessee in Knoxville, 84-66

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team struggled for the majority of the game Tuesday night against Tennessee in Knoxville, as they lost 84-66 in a game fans likely won’t want to remember.

It was a tale of two halves, as the first half ended with the Rebels very much in the game. Patton Pinkins was in double-figures and the defense hung with a strong Tennessee offense. The second half would not share this same reason for optimism as the defense was exposed by players like the Vols’ Nate Ament, who had 28 points, and the offense stalled out completely. 

There are not many positives to take away from a game like this. With head coach Chris Beard getting ejected for an altercation with the referees’, the game was never truly in doubt for the Volunteers. One of the only positive things to take away for the Rebels is that the team didn’t give up, even when it became clear that the game was truly over. 

Four players reached double-digit points; Pinkins with 15, AJ Storr with 15, Ilias Karmadine with 11, and Eduardo Klafke with 10. It was another rough night for Malik Dia, who recorded seven points, and a single rebound. 

The Ole Miss Rebels won the tip and after two missed shots, Karmadine made a three to strike first and get the game going. The ball movement and shot selection early were less than ideal, as the Rebels couldn’t buy a basket early on. On the other side of the ball, the Rebel defense also struggled to stop Tennessee early on. Ole Miss kept chucking up threes, and continued to miss them, as halfway through the first half, the Rebels only made four shots.  

The game started to get weird at the midpoint of the first half. Suddenly, Ole Miss started to make three’s and were staying in the game. Pinkins started to heat up, as he finished the half with 11 points. The Volunteer lead continued to shrink until it got to the three-point margin. It then floated around from three points to one point. The game was very ugly, which looked to be the gameplan for Ole Miss, as neither team was able to score, with each score being answered immediately when they did happen. Ole Miss continued to rebound the ball, grabbing 15, just enough to help keep them in the game. The Rebels went into the half against 25th-ranked Tennessee down one with a score of 26-25. 

The second half started the same way as the first ended, with both teams struggling, but this would end up changing very quickly. The gap remained the same at first, as the Rebels’ inconsistency from three continued to hurt them. The Ole Miss defense seemingly vanished, as the lead for Tennessee started to balloon.

The game quickly became ugly, and the lead kept growing well higher than it ever was. The Rebels were getting dominated on the glass, with their rebound total doubled by Tennessee. To make matters worse, Chris Beard was ejected after arguing with a referee over a no-call. With the game in hand for the Vols, it was only a question of how wide the margin would be. It ended up at 18, with the Rebels falling by a final score of 84-66.

Interesting Stat: Ole Miss had four players reach double-digits, all of which had a negative +/-. 

Next Up

The Rebels travel to Texas next to play the Longhorns on February 7. The game is at 1 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN 2.