OXFORD — Senior guard Jaylen Murray scored a game-high 24 points for No. 24 Ole Miss Monday night as the Rebels defeated Long Island 90-60 in the season opener for both teams. The Rebels (1-0) led by as many as 32 in the second half and held the Sharks (0-1) to 31.3% from the field in the second.
Four Ole Miss players finished with at least 10 points. Murray went over the 1,000-point scoring mark in his career between his time at Saint Peter’s and Ole Miss in the win.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” Murray said. “I’m glad I got my 1,000 points with Coach Beard. It’s like I always say, he believed in me since the first time I spoke to him.”
Ole Miss’ first basket of the season came nearly four minutes into the game via a reverse layup from senior guard Dre Davis, part of a 2 for 10 combined start from the field for both teams. Long Island took a 10-7 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the first half on a 3-pointer from Malachi Davis, who scored the Sharks’ first 10 points of the night.
A 13-0 Ole Miss run ensued, and the Rebels didn’t look back from there, taking a 17-point lead at halftime. Murray scored 18 points in the first half and was joined in double-figure scoring by senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield, who had 10 at the break.
The Rebels took a 21-point lead less than eight minutes into the second half on a 3-pointer from Murray, his fourth of five on the night. Ole Miss shot 53.1% from the field in the second half. Brakefield finished with 12 points while Davis and senior guard Matthew Murrell each finished with 11 points.
Ole Miss held Davis to six points in the second half. He finished with 19, which was tied for the team high.
“For our team, to kind of go down this journey and have the kind of season we’d all like to have, we’re going to have some different leading scorers on different nights,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “I thought Juju (Murray) did a good job tonight taking great shots. … He’s been really working on the discipline of his shot. … I thought Juju had a really good floor game tonight and shot the ball well.”
Ole Miss hosts Grambling State on Friday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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