Ole Miss Basketball vs. Oklahoma Sooners Tipoff Time and TV Channel in SEC Opener

NORMAN, Okla. – The Southeastern Conference schedule has arrived with the new year, as the men's basketball team travels west to face Oklahoma in their SEC opener on Saturday, January 3 at 2:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

TEAM FACTS
Ole Miss Rebels (Record: 8-5, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Chris Beard • 3rd Season at Ole Miss (52-29) • 289-127 career record (14th Season)

Oklahoma Sooners (Record: 10-3, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Porter Moser • 5th Season at Oklahoma (84-62) • 377-304 career record (22nd Season)

ON THE AIR
Television/Online: SEC Network
Play-by-Play: Dave Neal
Analyst: Jon Sundvold

OLE MISS RADIO
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: Gary Darby
Analyst: Murphy Holloway

SERIES HISTORY VS. OKLAHOMA
This will be just the seventh time the Rebels and Sooners have faced each other, with the series tied at 3-3 all time. They have faced off just once before in Norman, Oklahoma back in 1999, when the Sooners won 81-73. Prior to joining the SEC in 2024, the two teams played five times between 1998 and 2022. Ole Miss claimed the first conference matchup last season, defeating Oklahoma 87-84 in the SJB Pavilion.

LAST MEETING: March 1, 2025 (W, 87-84, Oxford, Miss.)
• Ole Miss took a slim one-point lead into halftime, riding a big game from Sean Pedulla to victory with the guard sinking five three pointers including a clutch triple to take the lead with 19 seconds left.
• Sean Pedulla (Ole Miss): 26 points, five made three pointers, five rebounds, three assists, two steals.
• Dayton Forsythe (Oklahoma): 25 points, two rebounds, three assists.

SCOUTING THE SOONERS
Oklahoma enters conference play with a 10-3 record, earning wins over Saint Francis, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Oral Roberts, Alcorn State, Marquette, Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, Kansas City, Stetson, and Mississippi Valley State. Their three losses came at the hands of Gonzaga, Nebraska, and Arizona State. The Sooners currently rank 51st in the latest NET Rankings.

They have been paced offensively by Nijel Pack at 16.3 points per game and Xzayvier Brown at 15.4 points per game, each of whom are shooting just under 50 percent from the field. The two have also totaled over 40 assists to begin the season. They're led in rebounding by Mohamed Wague at 7.0 per outing, who also leads the team defensively with 20 blocked shots.

Led by Pack and Brown, the Sooners have taken care of the ball through non-conference action, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.80, the 14th-best mark in the NCAA, while averaging just 9.4 turnovers per game, the 10th-best clip in the nation. Oklahoma also ranks highly in three point attempts per game (29.6, No. 25 in the NCAA), three pointers made per game (10.5, No. 37 in the NCAA), and points per game (87.4, No. 39 in the NCAA).

In his 22nd season as a college basketball head coach, Porter Moser has been at the helm of Oklahoma for five seasons now, where he's picked up 84 victories with the Sooners thus far. Prior to his time in Norman, Moser spent 10 seasons as the head coach of Loyola Chicago, where he accumulated nearly 200 wins and helped turn them into a household name with a pair of NCAA Tournament berths, highlighted by a Final Four run in 2018. Moser had previous stops at Illinois State for four seasons from 2003-2007, and at Little Rock for three years from 2000-2003.

THA BLOCK IS HOT
A strong defense has been a staple for Ole Miss under head coach Chris Beard, and this year's team has used their length and athleticism to average 5.1 blocks per game, the 28th-best mark in the nation. They have been led by forward James Scott, who's average of 1.5 blocks per contest ranks among the top 10 among SEC programs. Through the first 13 games this season, 12 different players have recorded a block paced by Scott's 19, 13 from Corey Chest, 11 from Malik Dia, and eight from Ilias Kamardine.

NON-CONFERENCE CLOSER
In their final game before SEC action, Ole Miss hosted Alcorn State on December 29, picking up a dominating 79-43 victory. Their success stemmed from impressive rebounding, posting a margin of +25 for the first time since 2008, led by Malik Dia and James Scott with 11 rebounds, and Corey Chest with 10. It had been nearly a decade since the Rebels had a trio of players with 10+ boards in a single game.

Paired with their 11 rebounds, both Dia and Scott posted double-doubles as well, marking the first time Ole Miss had two double-doubles in a single game since 2021. For Dia, that was his third double-double of the season, all of which occurred in a five-game stretch, and second in a row. He became the latest Ole Miss player to record double-doubles in back-to-back games since Sebastian Saiz in 2017. After beginning the season with an average of 4.8 rebounds per contest over the first six games of the season, Dia averaged 9.0 per game over the final seven in non-conference action.

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