OXFORD — As much excitement as there was in the SJB Pavilion Sunday morning for a rare premier exhibition basketball matchup between two NCAA Tournament hopefuls, it would be hard to find anyone more thrilled than Erin Smith. And she didn’t record a single statistic.
Smith is the founding executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children — better known as CASA of North Mississippi. CASA, which has a national branch, is a non-profit organization that “advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children through the service of trained, court-appointed community volunteers.” CASA helps children currently in the youth court system —advocating on their behalf in court for permanency through either reunification or adoption — and also helps provide goods to those children, whether it be clothing, bedding or daycare.
CASA of North Mississippi has served close to 1,000 children since its founding in 2018, Smith said, and has already surpassed its 2023 total this year. Each of the 150 or so children across the three counties CASA has served this year had an average of $3,000 or so in funding, Smith said.
Smith, an Ole Miss graduate, knows better than anyone that it can be hard for non-profits to accumulate resources needed to ensure the best for at-need children. Never in her wildest dreams did she think her alma mater would be a key resource for fundraising.
The net proceeds from the Rebels’ exhibition game Sunday against Illinois — a matchup the Rebels dominated 91-74 — went to CASA of North Mississippi. Four Ole Miss players finished in double-digit scoring, and the Rebels never trailed in the game and led for all but 15 seconds.
“Sometimes I sit back and I wonder how we got here and how really lucky we are to have a very large public university that’s very robust and growing in more ways than one,” Smith said. “ … It’s not just about the money aspect of it.”
It turns out there was a lot of hope and optimism to be found on Craddock Court Sunday. And some of it had nothing to do with the impressive product on the court.
“I thought we had a lot of people buying single-game tickets. A lot of the money that we raised tonight will go directly to CASA, the organization,” second-hear head coach Chris Beard said. “So, I’m proud of that.”
Coming off their first 20-win season since 2018-19, the No. 24 Rebels showed off a new-look roster filled to the brim with a combination of high-level transfers and key returnees. The Rebels are ranked in the preseason AP poll for just the second time ever and looked every bit the part against an Illinois program that has made the last four NCAA Tournaments and advanced to the Elite Eight a season ago.
The Rebels started four senior guards Sunday — Sean Pedulla, Jaylen Murray, Matthew Murrell and Dre Davis — and junior Malik Dia at the forward spot. Pedulla, Murray and Dia each made 3-pointers on Ole Miss’ first three possessions, and the Rebels started the game 8 of 11 from the field.
The Rebels led by as many as 22 in the first half, but a late surge by Illinois cut the deficit to 16 at halftime. The 3-point shot was the difference-maker early, as Ole Miss hit 7 of 14 in the first half compared to 3 of 12 for the Illini. Senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield and junior forward Malik Dia scored 13 points and 12 points in the first half, respectively.
“We have a lot of veteran guys. We’re a 3-point shooting team, we’re a post-up team,” second-year head coach Chris Beard said. “So, yeah, we’ve had some moments in practice. I tell the guys all the time, we’ll have some special segments, some special moments, maybe some special games offensively. But our fate will be on the defensive end.”
Ole Miss quickly upped its lead back to 23 early in the second by way of a 9-0 run and kept Illinois at arm’s length the entire half, never allowing the lead to get under 14 points. The Rebels forced 22 Illinois turnovers in the game, which led directly to 25 Ole Miss points. The Rebels had 25 assists on 35 made field goals.
Dia finished with a game-high 18 points. Brakefield and senior guard Dre Davis finished with 15 and 13 points, respectively, and senior guard Matthew Murrell finished with 11.
“I think both teams won today. Really wasn’t about the scoreboard,” Beard said. “ … It was about us having an opportunity to compete for the second time — we had a closed-door scrimmage about seven days ago. The whole objective was, can we get better from A to B. And I thought we did that.”
Ole Miss begins the regular season at home against Long Island on Nov. 4. The game is set to tip at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
