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Kentucky was in dire need of a victory on Tuesday night coming off a stinging loss at home to John Calipari and Arkansas on Saturday night.
But the 14th-ranked Wildcats gave up 54 points in the first half on the way to a 98-84 loss to No. 25 Ole Miss before a rocking crowd in Oxford, suffering their fourth loss in five games. Kentucky is now, incredibly, under .500 in SEC play, falling to 4-5 to go with its 15-7 overall record after its second-half comeback attempt fell short.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss improved to 17-6 overall and 6-4 in the SEC, getting a much-needed victory after losing 4 of its previous 5 games as the SEC grind has taken its toll on both teams as early February arrives.
Matthew Murrell led the way for the Rebels with 24 points, and 4 of Ole Miss’s 5 starters scored in double figures as the Rebels blazed away from the field, shooting 54.7% against Mark Pope’s struggling defense. Ole Miss also drained 43.3% of its 3-pointers, which helped make up for getting outrebounded 37-29 by Kentucky.
Amari Williams had 11 of those rebounds for the Wildcats to go with 12 points and 10 assists for a rare triple-double in the college game. Otega Oweh led Kentucky with 24 points, but the Wildcats fell again despite shooting exactly 50% and 47.6% from 3-point territory.
The Rebels prevailed in part because they took care of the ball to an incredible level, only having 1 turnover all night.
Now, Ole Miss will try to build on this win when it heads to LSU on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Kentucky will host South Carolina on Saturday in front of what is sure to be a restless crowd at Rupp Arena.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
