COLUMN: Rivalry Win Needs to Spark Ole Miss in SEC Play

Rivalry games are emotional, and winning them can spur confidence. Can that be the case for Ole Miss basketball?

The Rebels knocked off Mississippi State 82-72 on Saturday night at the SJB Pavilion in Oxford. After a poor offensive and overall performance against Tennessee the game prior, Ole Miss bounced back in a big way against the Bulldogs behind a seemingly-unstoppable Matthew Murrell's 31 points, a new career high.

Mississippi State's Tolu Smith did not play, but even without him, the win gave the Rebels some much-needed momentum early in conference play. To be fair, Ole Miss' Jarkel Joiner, still battling a lower-back injury, played less than 10 minutes and did not score, so both teams were without one of their best playmakers.

"It shows me that our team is really special," Murrell said after the win on Saturday. "We were able to play like this without [Joiner], and I feel like we'll play even better with him. I think we'll be a team to reckon with."

The Rebels are not perfect by any means, as their 9-5 overall record would indicate, but for a program that has not made the NCAA Tournament since Kermit Davis' first year in Oxford (2019), they'll take any positive momentum towards that goal they can get.

With that being said, Saturday's win needs to be the spark that lights that fire moving forward.

The Rebels moved up to 111 in the NET rankings following their win over Mississippi State. There's a lot of conference play left (if COVID-19 doesn't have its way), but make no mistake: Ole Miss put itself in a hole with some of its non-conference losses early in the year. A home loss to Samford (currently ranked 155 in the NET) will likely haunt Ole Miss all season.

It has ground to make up, but maybe Saturday's performance can move the needle in that direction.

Matthew Murrell will likely not shoot 91 percent from the field and 100 percent from three for the rest of the season. That was his stat line on Saturday night, but if Ole Miss can get back a healthy Jarkel Joiner, Murrell can continue to shoot with confidence, and Nysier Brooks can stay aggressive inside...maybe? Maybe this team can hit a groove.

The angst among the fan base surrounding the men's program has been palpable, and some of it is likely justified. Rivalry wins, however, have a way of making fans forget about their troubles, at least for a while, and Ole Miss has been good at that in recent seasons. The Rebels have beaten Mississippi State 12 of the last 17 times they've met on the hardwood, and say what you want, but that's likely thanks in part to Kermit Davis.

"There's nothing like a rivalry game," Davis said on Saturday. "I've grown up in this rivalry my whole life. I've been on both sides of it, which is unique, but I sure am glad to be on this side."

Davis played basketball at Mississippi State, and he has never failed to get his Ole Miss teams up for a game against the Bulldogs. Now, he has to keep that momentum going throughout the rest of the conference schedule.

Here's how Ole Miss will close out the month of January along with the opponent's current NET ranking.

Jan. 11 at Texas A&M (NET 65)

Jan. 15 vs. Auburn (NET 6)

Jan. 18 vs. Missouri (NET 199)

Jan. 22 at Mississippi State (NET 45)

Jan. 26 vs. Arkansas (NET 93)

Jan. 29 vs. Kansas State* (NET 87)

* part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge

There are opportunities there. There are also games you simply cannot lose and expect to be in the postseason picture at the end of the year. Still, every SEC win counts, and Ole Miss has to rack up as many of those as possible in a conference that looks to be pretty solid in the early going if it wants to return to postseason play, whether it be the NCAA Tournament or the NIT.

Can Ole Miss' win over Mississippi State be a spark that gets this team going? For Davis and the Rebels, it needs to be.

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