Ole Miss men’s basketball team returned from its holiday break looking to erase the memories of its last game and head into conference play on a positive note.
The Rebels certainly accomplished that last part with a 79-43 win against Alcorn State (1-11). Erasing the memory of their loss to NC State eight days ago will take a lot more than that.
It was nearly a month ago that Ole Miss coach Chris Beard mentioned replacing Rebels lacking in effort with one of their teammates. Monday night’s game against the Braves showed he was serious.
Beard started his regular starting lineup with Malik Dia, AJ Storr, James Scott, Ilia Kamardine and Travis Perry tipping off the game. But Ole Miss would send 13 of its 16-man roster into action against Alcorn State.
Of those 13, all but five registered 12 minutes or more of playing time. That doesn’t include Storr, one of the team’s top rated players in the preseason. Storr was 1-for-5 from the field, 0-for-2 on three pointers, had two rebounds and two turnovers in nine minutes of gameplay.
Overall, the Rebels did what they had to do, which is to win. But it wasn’t the dominating effort a team that played in the Sweet 16 last year should have had.
“I thought tonight’s performance was better,” Beard said after the game. “We had a couple good days of practice after Christmas, and I think the guys are united. I was pleased with practice this week because I thought the approach was right.”
Ole Miss made 47 percent of its field goals and was 10-for-31 from three-point range. The one truly dominant area for ole Miss was in the paint.
The Rebels out-rebounded Alcorn State 53-28 and outscored the Braves 36-16 on points in the paint.
Ole Miss also had two players record double-doubles in the win. Dia had 12 points and 11 rebounds while Scott had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
“It was the game we needed and the performance we needed,” Beard said. “Conference play starts on Saturday. I thought we accomplished a lot of goals tonight, and I’m really proud of James (Scott). A double-double in the (16) minutes he got speaks for itself, and we’re going to need James to play like this the rest of the season to have the run we’re all wanting to have.”
Kezza Giffa led all Ole Miss scorers with 14 points and Patton Pinkins was tied for second with 13 points.
Next Up
Ole Miss will be on the road to begin its slate of SEC games. The Rebels will face Oklahoma on Saturday in Norman, Okla. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
