Rebel Roundabout: Ole Miss basketball has its SEC opponents for 2024-25
The SEC on Monday released the 2024-25 conference opponents for the league’s now-16 men’s basketball teams.
Every team will play the other 15 members at least once and three opponents twice. Two are permanent opponents, while the other rotates on a yearly basis.
Ole Miss last season won 20 games for the 17th time in history but first in five years. The Rebels missed the postseason entirely in what was the debut season of head coach Chris Beard. Beard is trying to make Ole Miss the third separate program he’s led to the NCAA Tournament since 2016.
The Rebels have blitzed the NCAA Transfer Portal for impact this offseason, landing five transfers since April 13. They’re showing no signs of slowing down, either. Included in their haul is an NBA Draft prospect and a pair of accomplished, team-leading Power 6 players. Virginia Tech guard Sean Pedulla was an All-ACC third-team honoree as a junior last season.
Davon Barnes averaged 13.5 points per game for Sam Houston State. Dre Davis chipped in 15 a night for Seton Hall. Malik Dia, a forward from Belmont, had 17.0 points in 23.0 minutes per. Mikeal Brown-Jones posted 19.0 and 8.0 for North Carolina-Greensboro.
SEC games open January 4, 2025 and run through March 8.
HOME: Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M
AWAY: at Alabama, at Arkansas, at Auburn, at Florida, at LSU, at Mississippi State, at Missouri, at South Carolina and at Vanderbilt.
OLE MISS TRACK AND FIELD’S MCKENZIE LONG NAMED USTFCCCA NATIONAL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Senior Ole Miss track and field All-American McKenzie Long was named the USTFCCCA National Women’s Athlete of the Week Monday afternoon.
Long is the first Rebel to secure the national weekly honor this outdoor season. She’s the first Rebel, period, since Mario Garcia Romo won for men’s cross country in 2020. Long is the first in-season Rebel to take home the award since two-time Olympian Raven Saunders in 2016.
Long is coming off a week in which she repeated as SEC champion in the women’s 200-meter dash. Long posted a world-leading and SEC-meet-record 22.03 (+0.6) — the fifth-best mark ever by a college runner and No. 22 in United States history. She’s the SEC’s first repeat champion since 2011-13.
She also ran the second leg for Ole Miss in the 4×100-meter relay. The Rebels finished as the league’s runner-up. Their school-record 42.47 time is No. 7 in collegiate history and No. 4 all-time among SEC teams.
Rebel track and field athletes qualified and declared will next travel to the University of Kentucky for the NCAA East Regional May 22-25.
