Ole Miss Comes Up Short Against Texas A&M

The Texas A&M Aggies (22-8, 14-3) defeated the Ole Miss Rebels (11-19, 3-14), 69-61, in the Pavilion Tuesday night.

Rebels Start Hot

Ole Miss senior Robert Allen opened play with a deep three, and the Rebels gained momentum right away — leading A&M for the first 11 minutes of action.

Ole Miss junior Matthew Murrell dropped 11 of their first 20 points to help Ole Miss secure a 20-8 lead.

Wow. Just wow.@21_mjb | @matt_murre11 pic.twitter.com/yYVqTs1yHs

— Ole Miss Men’s Basketball (@OleMissMBB) March 1, 2023

A&M Responds

Down 20-8, A&M went on a 14-point run to take their first lead of the night at 22-20. The Aggies forced six turnovers during the span of their 14-point run to get back into the game.

While Ole Miss answered back and took a 26-22 lead, A&M answered right back to tie it up at 26.

The Aggies would lead for the rest of the night, going up six at the half.

Up six after the slow start in Oxford.

Second half on ESPNU soon.#GigEm pic.twitter.com/BHNjJ1rkUR

— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) March 1, 2023

Rebels Effort Comes Up Short

The Aggies secured their first double-digit lead early in the second half at 42-32.

The Rebels were able to hang around, though, and capitalize on an eight-point run to shrink the lead to just two.

But A&M would eventually go back up double digits and lead it 57-46.

While Ole Miss kept it relatively close within the last seven minutes, as they were able to once again cut the lead to under five, their efforts simply weren’t enough to get it done.

took care of business ➕1️⃣ pic.twitter.com/urpNf99hEa

— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) March 1, 2023

Murrell led the Rebels in their effort with 26 points, shooting 9-15 from the field and 8-11 from three.

Ultimately, Texas A&M’s defense proved to be too lethal for the Rebels. The Aggies forced Ole Miss to commit 18 turnovers, while only giving up five of their own — a season low.

Texas A&M was dominant in the paint, outscoring Ole Miss by 22 points.

Three of the Aggies’ starters put up double digits, and the bench contributed heavily with 25 points in the win.

https://twitter.com/aggiembk/status/1630819211369934849

Texas A&M Makes Program History

The victory marked the Aggies’ 14th conference win, which ties for the most conference wins in a season in the program’s history. The last time Texas A&M won 14 conference games was in 1980.

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1630797232587915265

Season Finale

With the regular season is coming to a close, Texas A&M will face No. 2 Alabama at home Saturday at noon.

Ole Miss will travel to take on Missouri Saturday at 3:30 p.m.