One of the challenges for uber-deep and talented Ole Miss this season will be spreading the wealth and scoring opportunities. The No. 24 Rebels will look to take another step toward that goal when they host Grambling State on Friday in Oxford, Miss.
The Rebels (1-0) head back to the court after a dominating 90-60 win at home over Long Island on Monday in their season opener. Point guard Jaylen Murray scored 24 points to lead Ole Miss while Jaemyn Brakefield added 12 points, and Matthew Murrell and Seton Hall transfer Dre Davis had 11 each for the Rebels.
Ole Miss led by 17 points at halftime and continued to pull away in the second half, never allowing the visitors to get closer than a dozen points. The Rebels outshot Long Island 49.1 percent to 34.5 percent — hitting 40.9 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. They received points from 12 players and blocked 13 shots, tied for second-most in a game in school history.
“This is a team that if we can get five, six guys in double figures then that’s our identity,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “(Against Long Island) we got four, and we would have had five if the game would have been a little different. To have the kind of season we’d all like to have, we are going to have to have different leading scorers on different nights.”
Murray’s output allowed him to break the 1,000-point milestone for his career.
“The basket was big of Murray,” Beard said. “He was right to give his teammates credit — they were the ones who passed him the ball and spaced the floor where he could get those shots.”
Grambling State (1-0) also had a successful beginning to the season, rolling past Southern University at New Orleans 92-42 at home on Monday. The Tigers (1-0) had six players in double-figure scoring, led by Antwan Burnett’s 19 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
Kintavious Dozier added 15 points, P.J. Edwards had 12, and Mikale Stevenson, Ernest Ross and Chilaydrien Newton hit for 11 points each in the victory. Grambling State shot 51.4 percent, hit 12 3-pointers and forced 18 turnovers while holding the opponent to 25.4 percent shooting.
The Tigers were up just 10-9 with 11:21 to play in the first half before taking charge with a 16-2 run; Grambling State led 45-20 at halftime and never was challenged in the second half.
Grambling State earned its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament last year after winning both the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles.
“Chemistry is gonna be a key to getting back to that point,” Grambling State coach Donte Jackson said. “We gotta get these new guys that we brought in, you know, buying into our culture here as far as being great defensively and then being selfless.”
The Tigers were ranked as the top team in the league in this year’s preseason poll while Dozier was named the SWAC preseason Offensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-SWAC first team.