Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell a 'game-time decision' vs. Kentucky

When Ole Miss takes on Kentucky Tuesday night at The Pavilion, the Rebels could be without their leading scorer once again. Matthew Murrell will be a “game-time decision,” Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

Murrell leads the Rebels with 14.9 points, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game this season, but hasn’t played since their Jan. 21 game against Arkansas. He’s been dealing with a knee injury, which is why his status still up in the air for Tuesday’s matchup.

Ole Miss had an 8-4 record as SEC play got underway, but has struggled mightily in conference action. The Rebels bring a 1-7 conference record into the matchup with Kentucky, which tips off Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

After Ole Miss’ loss to Missouri earlier this month, Davis provided an update on Murrell’s injury and confirmed he’s dealing with an MCL issue. He also declared his star guard “day-to-day.”

“He’ll just be day to day. He gonna try to get back on the floor tomorrow,” Davis said. “just try to get back on the floor and do some individual stuff to see what he can do. He’s been running. We missed him, but it was really positive news after watching him walk off the floor. It was just a mild MCL so Matt will be back. Whether it’s Saturday, I don’t know. I know he’s gonna try like heck to be back on Saturday. That will just depend day to day of the treatment.”

His absence was felt by Ole Miss during the lost to the Tigers. Davis said he felt like the Rebels missed him more on the defensive side of the basketball than on the offensive side.

“They probably missed him is just defensively, just defensive scheme,” Davis said. “Tonight, we scored plenty 77. Missouri’s a high powered offense and they’ve scored. They haven’t shot it like that in a long, long, long time. And they did…I think more than anything tonight we missed his maturity level on the defensive end.”

On3’s Peter Warren contributed to this report.