Ole Miss opens season with 99-58 win over Alcorn State

Ole Miss opened its men’s basketball season with a 99-58 win over Alcorn State, using 26 forced turnovers to control the game at the SJB Pavilion. The Rebels improved to 1-0, while Alcorn State fell to 0-1.

Senior Budd Clark led Ole Miss with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and seven assists. Sophomore Patton Pinkins scored 16 points, including three 3-pointers, and senior Santiago Trouet added 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Christian Brown scored a career-high 12 points in nine minutes, and Corey Stephenson had 10 points.

Ole Miss established an early advantage, opening with a 6-0 run while forcing three turnovers in the first three minutes. Pinkins’ 3-pointer helped stretch the lead, and the Rebels built a 52-31 advantage by halftime. Pinkins had 14 points in the first half.

The Rebels kept pulling away after the break. Clark assisted on Brown’s dunk, which put Ole Miss ahead 60-31, and later set up a dunk by Stephenson. Brown added three-point plays and consecutive baskets as the lead grew. Ole Miss made four straight field goals to reach an 83-50 advantage at the under-eight-minute media timeout.

Ole Miss scored 56 points in the paint and assisted on 25 of its 35 made field goals. The Rebels led for 38:12, and all available players saw action. It was the team’s 12th consecutive regular-season opening victory and its seventh win in seven meetings with Alcorn State.

Coach Chris Beard earned his 297th career NCAA victory and improved to 12-0 in season openers as a Division I head coach, including 4-0 at Ole Miss, according to the team.

Ole Miss was scheduled to host Central Arkansas on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Central at the SJB Pavilion. The calendar listed the game for broadcast on SECN+ and the Ole Miss Radio Network.

Source: Original Article