No. 25 Ole Miss beats No. 14 Kentucky in matchup of ranked teams

Feb. 4, 2025-With 24 assists to just one turnover and 98 points scored, led by Matthew Murrell’s season-best 24, No. 25 Ole Miss (17-6, 6-4 SEC) men’s basketball picked up a monumental victory over No. 14 Kentucky (15-7, 4-5 SEC), 98-84 on Tuesday night in the SJB Pavilion.

Murrell led a five-player attack in double figures followed by Dre Davis’ 17 points, Malik Dia’s 16 points, Jaylen Murray’s 15, and Jaemyn Brakefield’s 10. The two point guards for Ole Miss, Murray and Sean Pedulla, combined for 18 assists with just a single turnover.

Ole Miss jumped out to a hot start offensively, with a three-pointer by Brakefield setting the scoreboard at 15-7 through the first five minutes of action. A dunk Malik Dia sent the SJB Pavilion into a frenzy, as the Rebels kept their momentum building.

Moments later, Pedulla found Murrell for one of his six threes on the night to put the home team up 10 with 9:57 on the clock. Thanks to a 15-3 run, Ole Miss would step out in front by as much as 23, with a layup form Murray in the final seconds setting the halftime score at 54-31. Their 54 points in the first half were the most since November of 2013.

Ole Miss opened up the second period with a pair of makes from beyond the arc, leading by as much as 27. However, Kentucky would chip away at the deficit, getting as close as 11 points with 7:43 left to play.

The Rebels kept the Wildcats at bay, as Murray posted his first double-double of the season on his 10th assist of the game, finding Davis for a jumper to make it 91-75. Ole Miss would finish with their most points ever scored against Kentucky in the 98-84 win.

Ole Miss will hit the road next, heading to Louisiana for the weekend to take on LSU on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. and on the SEC Network.

NOTABLES

• Matthew Murrell connected on a season-best six makes from three, leading to a season-high 24 points.
• Jaylen Murray would score 15 points and dish out 10 assists, his second double-double during his Ole Miss career.
• Ole Miss has won two of the last three matchups in Oxford vs. Kentucky, tying their largest margin of victory over the Wildcats tonight during the SEC era.
• The Rebels entered the game with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.66, the ninth-best clip in the nation and finished with 24 assists to just one turnover tonight.