Matthew Murrell scored a season high 24 points and No. 25 Ole Miss made nine 3 points as part of an explosive 54-point first half on the way to a 98-84 victory over No. 14 Kentucky on Tuesday in Oxford, Miss, Miss , Miss,.
During the first 20 minutes, the defensive-minded rebels (17-6, 6-4 southeast conference) were on fire and clicked on 20 out of 33 shots (60.6 percent) from the field and went 9-for-17 (52.9 percent ) from long range. They also pulled out 15 assists during the first half.
Dre Davis added 17 points for Ole Miss, while Malik Dia had 16. Jaylen Murray had 15 points and 10 assists, and Jaemyn Brakefield scored 10 points.
Ole Miss had 24 assists and just a turnover for the game.
Otega Oweh scored 24 points and Jaxson Robinson had 18 as Kentucky (15-7, 4-5) lost for the fourth time in five excursions. Amari Williams collected 12 points, 11 Returns and 10 assists, the fourth triple stubbly in Wildcat’s history and the first since December 2016. Koby Brea and Andrew Carr received 10 points each.
Wildcats were without starter Lamont Butler (Axel) for the third straight game.
Not even four minutes into the competition, the rebels were up 12-4 and received 3-points from Davis and Dia in front of a rough, red-clad audience.
The home team pushed the advantage to 27-17 close to the 10-minute mark for the first half at Murrell’s Trey. It extended its edge to 33-18 shortly after Brakefield’s three-point game with 8:43 to go during the period.
Murray’s arrangement in the closing seconds of the first half, the rebels put forward 54-31 at the break-outs’ largest lead to that point.
During the second half, Ole Miss continued to put on the heat at the offensive end and took a 27-point lead, 64-37, only 2:18 into the frame of Murrell’s can.
Visitors lowered the deficit to 78-63 on a four-point game by Robinson and eventually got down to 11 with 7:43 left but did not have enough Mojo for a comeback.
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