Ole Miss Basketball Falls Flat, Loses 81-71 to Rival No. 22 Mississippi State

Ole Miss basketball fell flat against in-state rival Mississippi State on Saturday.

Feb 15, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs forward RJ Melendez (22) shoots as Mississippi Rebels forward Malik Dia (0) defends during the first half at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

No. 19 Ole Miss basketball returned to Oxford for a home matchup against rival and No. 22 Mississippi State on Saturday. The Rebels entered the game on a three-game win streak, but fell flat to the Bulldogs 81-71.

Despite leading by as much as seven midway through the first half, the Bulldogs stormed back to take a seven-point lead entering the half, leading 40-33. The Rebels would mount a few rallies, but were never able to draw the score to within three points, as Mississippi State would pull away as the second half wore on and go on to dominate the remainder of the game.

As a team, Ole Miss shot 38.3% from the floor, 25% from 3-point range, and 73.1% from the free-throw line. Jaylen Murray led the Rebels in scoring with 14 points followed by Sean Pedulla with 13 points.

As a team, Mississippi State shot 43.1% from the floor, 25.9% from 3-point range, and 66.7% from the free-throw line. RJ Melendez led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points, followed by
Josh Hubbard with 14, Ryan Keugel with 11, and Keyshawn Murphy and Claudell Harris Jr. with 10 points each.

Despite leading in the first half, the Bulldogs' rally to take the lead going into the intermission is ultimately what did the Rebels in. The Bulldogs also out-shot the Rebels by 6% from the floor and out-rebounded the Rebels 48-36.

This marks the first time since the 2022-2023 season that the Rebels have been swept by the Bulldogs, and drops the team to 19-7 overall and 8-5 in SEC play. While the loss stings, it doesn't eliminate the Rebels from NCAA Tournament contention, but if they want to carry momentum into March, they will need to bounce back from this final positively.

Ole Miss is back in action this coming Saturday as the Rebels travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.