Ole Miss basketball’s NCAA Tournament hopes suffer potentially fatal blow at Georgia

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•03/05/24•

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Ole Miss basketball’s NCAA Tournament hopes were dashed Tuesday night at Georgia. 

The Rebels fell, 69-66, to drop to 20-10 on the 2023-24 season. They’re 7-10 in the SEC. 

Ole Miss was 18-3 (5-3) on January 30 but has only beaten Missouri (twice) since. The Rebels entered the night in the next ‘Next Four Out’ in ESPN’s bracket projections. 

Ole Miss has reached the NCAA Tournament just nine times in its 100-plus-year history. The Rebels last got there in 2018-19.

Ole Miss had won two in a row, and four of the last five, in Athens prior to Tuesday. Georgia now has a 44-16 advantage at home in the all-time series, as well as a 78-47 overall record.

The Bulldogs had lost three straight. Ole Miss, meanwhile, has dropped seven of its last nine. The Rebels are 10th in the SEC. The league tournament is March 13-17 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Bracket Watch: Where do the Ole Miss basketball teams stand heading into the postseason?

HOW IT HAPPENED 

Ole Miss trailed for most all of the first half. The Rebels also didn’t have their leading scorer, Matthew Murrell, for much of the night due to an apparent illness. 

However, a second-chance bucket by Auburn transfer Allen Flanigan cut the deficit to 24-23 with less than five minutes until halftime. Flanigan was questionable for the game with a hamstring injury. He was limited him to just nine minutes at Missouri over the weekend.

Georgia led by three at the break. Ole Miss’ Brandon Murray scored on a fast-break layup for the Rebels’ first lead at the game, 37-35. Georgia blitzed Ole Miss from there, however, even extending out to an 11-point advantage with under three minutes to go in regulation. 

The Rebels used a 9-0 run to pull within 65-63 with 49 seconds remaining. However, they would get no closer, as Georgia improved to 16-14 (6-11) overall.

BY THE NUMBERS

Jaemyn Brakefield and Jaylen Murray paced the Rebels offensively with 19 points apiece. Flanigan had 11. Georgia saw five players score double-digit points, led by Noah Thomasson’s 15. Thomasson came in averaging a team-leading 12.8 points per game. 

Ole Miss picked up its 20th win of the season at Missouri, its 13th such season since 2000. Beard became the fourth consecutive Rebel head coach to win 20 games or more in his first season. He’s the 29th coach to do so in SEC history.

The Rebels play their final game of the regular season on Saturday, March 9. They’ll host Texas A&M on CBS at 1 p.m. in the SJB Pavilion. Ole Miss will honor its five seniors prior to tip.

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