OXFORD — Following a double-digit home loss to archrival Mississippi State over the weekend, Ole Miss senior guard Sean Pedulla didn’t agree with head coach Chris Jans’ assertion that the Rebels had entered that game playing better than the Bulldogs. In Pedulla’s eyes, a drop-off had been a few games in the making.
The No. 24 Rebels (19-7, 8-5 SEC) have won three of their last four overall, the last a 10-point loss to Mississippi State Saturday at SJB Pavilion. Prior to that, Ole Miss notched a 14-point win over then-No. 14 Kentucky at home and won road games at LSU and South Carolina by a combined six points. Ole Miss is currently projected to be a No. 6 seed in the latest NCAA Tournament projections by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
The Rebels are a win away from their second-straight 20-win season, which will be the first such occurrence for the program since doing it three-straight times in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Still, following a loss to Mississippi State that clinched a Bulldogs season sweep — and a game the visitors led by as many as 19 points in the second half — Pedulla told reporters that, despite Jans’ assertion the Rebels had been playing well prior to the game, Ole Miss hadn’t been its best.
The Rebels led the Wildcats 54-31 at halftime and took a 27-point lead early in the second half. Kentucky was able to trim the deficit to 11 with 1:20 remaining, however, by shooting 63% from the field in the second half.
“We haven’t really been playing our best ever since that second half against Kentucky,” Pedulla, who leads the Rebels with 14.6 points per game, said over the weekend. “I feel like since then, it’s been on a steady decline.”
“ … Just being complacent, not fixing the issues that we have to fix. Rebounding has been a struggle for us all year, and it’s continuing to be a struggle, and we have to turn it into something that’s a positive. Whenever you know what your weaknesses are, and they continue to be your weaknesses, it makes it hard to win and easy to exploit if you’re the other team.
Ole Miss, who does not play a game during the week, plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
The week between games allows for a needed reset and potentially a step toward playing the kind of basketball that will help the Rebels the rest of the month and in March.
“We won two road games against teams that really were playing kind of fearless. … Those are good wins, period. There’s no asterisk next to it because somebody’s record is or isn’t what people think it should be,” Beard said. “But I think what Sean was referring to is just the consistency of the game. We have 10, four-minute games. And the last several games, there’s a couple of those four-minute games we want back. … Not saying we’ve been playing bad basketball, but it’s not our consistent basketball that we need to be successful in this league.”
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 34 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 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
