OXFORD – Alabama hit nearly 55% of its shots from 3-point range in the second half Wednesday night against Ole Miss as the Crimson Tide defeated the Rebels 93-74 at SJB Pavilion.
It’s the sixth straight loss for Ole Miss (11-13, 3-8 SEC), the program’s longest losing streak since the 2022-23 season. Senior guard AJ Storr led all scorers with 27 points. Five Alabama players finished with at least 10 points, and the Crimson Tide shot 26 free throws in the game compared to Ole Miss’ 13.
It was the Rebels’ first home game since Jan. 20. Ole Miss’ scheduled home matchup with Vanderbilt on Jan. 31 was moved to Nashville due to the ice storms that hit Oxford and shut down Ole Miss’ campus for two weeks.
“It was a 10-point game (with) about seven minutes left. It kind of ballooned on us late. I don’t think the final score is really indicative of what happened in the game tonight. Really tough to guard their ability to shoot the 3 and kind of spread us out,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “Our defense not only didn’t do a good job defending the 3 tonight, we just couldn’t force turnovers as well.”
Alabama (17-7, 7-4) missed 13 of its first 16 shots from the field, allowing the Rebels to jump out to a 20-11 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half. Despite hitting just 5 of 23 from 3-point range in the first, Alabama tied the game three times late in the period and broke a 27-27 tie with a Labaron Philon 3-pointer with 1:44 left in period. The Crimson Tide led 32-30 at halftime despite Ole Miss outshooting them 36% to 25% from the field. Storr led all scorers with 13 first-half points.
A 15-4 Alabama run early in the second half saw the Crimson Tide jump out to an 11-point lead just more than five minutes into the period. Eight straight points later in the half put Ole Miss in a 15-point hole with just over 10 minutes left. The Rebels cut Alabama’s lead to single digits twice in the game’s final eight minutes, but the Crimson Tide responded each time with backbreaking shot after backbreaking shot.
Philon finished with 18 points, while Latrell Whitesell Jr. scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half. Alabama hit 12 of 22 3-pointers in the second half and 17 of 45 overall.
“I think from my naked eye, you’d have to give us some credit for their 3-point percentage in the first half, because I thought we were rotating. We were flying around,” Beard said. “In the second half, I did not see the closeouts and the rotations. … Give Alabama a lot of credit. It was a good game plan tonight.”
Rebels senior guard Kezza Giffa, who averages 6.6 points per game, missed Wednesday’s game after undergoing a medical procedure and is considered week-to-week, according to Ole Miss. Senior forward Malik Dia scored just 2 points in eight minutes and has scored 9 points total over the last three games.
Ole Miss hosts Mississippi State Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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