OXFORD — It may be too early in the season to call it a defining moment, but University of Mississippi men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy thought his club’s 64-61 overtime win against previously undefeated University of Miami was a step in the right direction.
“This is a great emotional win for a young team,” Kennedy said. “This is a good Miami team that’s dangerous. We survived at the end and that’s big for us.”
Dundrecous Nelson scored 17 points, while Murphy Holloway added 13 points and a game-high 17 rebounds on Friday night for Ole Miss.
“I was fortunate to hit some shots today that helped us,” Nelson said. “We’re getting better and that means all of us. We’ve struggled some at the 3-point line, but we could tell today that we’re starting to get better looks.”
The Rebels (5-1) took the lead for good, 60-58, on a dunk by Holloway with 3:06 left in overtime and survived potential game-winning and game-tying shots by Malcolm Grant at the end of regulation and in overtime.
“You cannot underestimate the value of a Murphy Holloway to this team and that showed tonight,” Kennedy said. “(Jarvis) Summers did all you can do against Malcolm Grant, an all-league player, a tremendous player in those situations.”
Summers had 13 points and Terrance Henry added 12 for Ole Miss. The Rebels played without starting forward Reginald Buckner, who sat out due to a knee injury suffered in practice Thursday. He is expected to return in December.
“This was a big win for this team because, I’m telling you, Miami is good,” Holloway said. “They came in here undefeated and they’ve got strong players in key spots. For us, this is a big boost emotionally and helped us grow up a lot.”
Ole Miss raced to a 17-0 lead in the opening 8 minutes and led 46-41 with 8 minutes left in regulation before Miami rallied to force overtime.
Grant led the Hurricanes (4-1) with 22 points, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range. Grant’s final 3-point shot pulled Miami within 62-61 with 21 seconds remaining in overtime.
Ole Miss followed Grant’s 3 with a pair of free throws from Summers with 20 seconds left to build the 64-61 cushion.
Durand Scott added 13 points and Trey McKinney 12 for Miami.
Scott had his final shot blocked by Nelson and Grant recovered the ball outside the 3-point line, but was forced to rush an unsuccessful 3 at the buzzer.
“Grant and Scott are our go-to guys in those situations and we are confident when they have the ball in their hands,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “The answer is, yes: We had the ball where we wanted at the end of regulation and in overtime.”
Miami, which trailed 29-25 at halftime, finished 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) from the field. Ole Miss was 19 of 50 (38 percent) from the field.
The Hurricanes were 8 of 13 (61.5 percent) from the free-throw line, while the Rebels finished 19 of 30 (63.3 percent) from the stripe.
In overtime, Ole Miss converted 8 of 10 free-throw opportunities, including five from Summers. Miami managed only 2 of 4 in the extra frame, both from Scott.
“I thought that was the difference,” Larranaga said. “Our M.O. has been to get to the free-throw line, and today we only shot 13 and they shot 30 times.”
The win was the first at home for Ole Miss over an ACC opponent and marked its first win over an ACC team since a March 2008 quarterfinal win in the National Invitational Tournament at Virginia Tech.
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