Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Opens the SEC Tournament Against Missouri

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

The No. 13 seeded Ole Miss Rebels take the court in Tampa, Florida, to take on the No. 12 seeded Missouri Tigers in the opening round of the SEC Basketball Tournament. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Ole Miss (13-18, 4-14 SEC) enters the tournament after falling to the Vanderbilt Commodores 63-61 on senior day inside the SJB Pavilion. Ole Miss’ James White missed a game-tying floater at the buzzer.

Against the Commodores, Ole Miss was led by Matthew Murrell and Austin Crowley with 15 points each.

Missouri rolls into the SEC Tournament with an 11-20 overall record and a 5-13 mark in conference play. The Tigers concluded the regular season with a 79-69 win over Georgia Bulldogs.

The Tigers are led on the court Kobe Brown who averages 12.6 points per game.

This season, Missouri has averaged 65.2 points per contest and allowed their opponents to score 70.8 a game.

When the ball is tipped off it will be the 21st time in the series against the Rebels and the Tigers. Ole Miss enjoys a wide 15-5 edge in the all-time series, including a 7-2 mark at home, a 6-3 edge at Columbia and a 2-0 record against the Tigers in the SEC Tournament in 2013 (64-62) and 2017 (86-74). The lone Missouri wins in Oxford came on Feb. 6, 2018 (75-69) and earlier this year on Jan. 18 (78-53), and the three Tiger wins in Columbia came on Feb. 9, 2013 (98-79), Feb. 18, 2020 (71-68) and last month on Feb. 12, 2022 (74-68).

This matchup will be the third time they have meet on the hardwood as Missouri has won both games during the regular season (Jan. 18 in Oxford: 78-53; Feb. 12 in Columbia: 74-68).