The Magic Runs Out: Ole Miss Fights Hard but Falls in Overtime to Arkansas 93-90

OXFORD, Miss. — The magic finally ran out in Nashville for the Ole Miss men’s basketball team as they gave it their all but fell just short to the Arkansas Razorbacks in the semifinal of the SEC Tournament, 93-90.

Malik Dia, Patton Pinkins, AJ Storr, and Ilias Karmadine combined for 68 points, with Storr leading the way with 24. It was a game that embodied their tournament run–the Rebels didn’t hear the bell. They went down swinging and pushed a really strong Arkansas team to its limit. Karmadine dominated Darius Acuff when they were on the court together, as he seemingly was the only one who knew how to stop him.

The glass slipper shattered, however, and the carriage turned back into a pumpkin as the CinderRebs are done for this season. It was a heartbreaking loss, indeed, but it was great way to end the season — on a run in the SEC tournament. This squad will now be remembered as a team that pulled off a very unlikely tournament performance.

First half highlights

Ole Miss trailed for the first time in the SEC Tournament early on in Saturday’s game against the Razorbacks. The intensity was apparent early, however, with both teams eagerly wanting to win the game. Arkansas was feasting in the paint, getting dunk after dunk in the early stages of the game. At the first timeout, Ole Miss trailed by just three.

Karmadine was handling Acuff, with two steals and a block on the extremely talented guard. Halfway through the first half, Ole Miss fell into a bit of a hole, with the Razorbacks holding a double-digit lead. The Rebels quickly fought back, bringing their deficit to only four with seven minutes to go. Storr and Pinkins carried the back half of the first, with nine and six points respectively.

Arkansas pushed once again, but Ole Miss stayed in it. A late 6-0 run to end the half helped Ole Miss reduce their deficit even more. A foul on a half-court heave to end the half put Pinkins on the line, and he made all three free throws to bring the half to a close with Ole Miss trailing by just one, 37-36. The Rebels were trailing, but they were definitely not giving up.

Second half highlights

Ole Miss took the lead early in the second half via a layup. Back and forth both teams went, with the lead changing hands numerous times. With 14 minutes to go, the game was tied. More back-and-forth kept it knotted with just 10 minutes to go in the game.

Ole Miss then went extremely cold, committing turnovers in the process. The Razorbacks took advantage of this, with dunks sucking the air out of the Rebels. But after a scoring drought that allowed Arkansas to push its lead even farther, Karmadine finally got a basket. Ole Miss was down by 10 with just over five to go, and the Rebels needed to push.

Ole Miss made threes, keeping them within striking distance of Arkansas. It was a six point game with 1:30 to go. After some more scoring by both teams, there were a mere nine seconds to go with the Rebels down three points. They cut the deficit to one with seven seconds to go. And then Storr made a clutch layup to tie the game, sending it to overtime.

The overtime would be Storr’s, as he had nine points in that period, alone. Arkansas dominated in the paint, however, and Ole Miss couldn’t do anything to stop them. A Rebel turnover all but sealed the deal as Ole Miss fell 93-90, going down with quite the fight.

Notables

• Ole Miss became the first team seeded 15 or higher to make the semifinal round of a conference tournament in Division I history.
• Adding nine boards today, James Scott finished with 41 rebounds, the fifth-most in a single SEC Tournament ever.
• AJ Storr’s 78 points at this year’s tournament were the 10th-most ever scored in a single event.
• Ilias Kamardine’s 10 steals this past week are tied for the seventh most in SEC Tournament history.