University of Mississippi-Ole Miss Athletics

OXFORD, Miss – Finally it's here. The 2024-25 men's basketball season begins for Ole Miss on Monday, November 4th when they host Long Island at SJB Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. For the second time in school history, it finished in the AP top-25 and for For the first time ever in the top 25 of the coaches survey.

FACTS ABOUT THE TEAM

No. 24/25 Ole Miss Rebels (2023-24 record: 20-12, 7-11 SEC)
Head Coach: Chris Beard • 2nd season at Ole Miss (20-12) • 257-110 career record (13th season)

Long Island Sharks (2023-24 record: 7-22, 6-10 NEC)
Head Coach: Rod Strickland • 3rd season at Long Island (10-48) • 10-48 career record (3rd season)

ON AIR
TV/Online: SEC Network+
Play-by-Play: Jake Hromada
Color: Kermit Davis

OLE MISS RADIO
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Color: Marc Dukes

SERIES STORY VS. LONG ISLAND
Ole Miss and Long Island have met once before, during the 1997-98 season at the First Merchants/CVC Classic, where the Rebels won 102-99 in a high-octane contest. Ansu Sesay and Keith Carter led the attack, each recording a double-double. Sesay led the Rebels with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while Keith Carter scored 16 points and grabbed 16 boards. Six members of the Ole Miss team scored in double figures.

LAST MEETING: December 5, 1997 (W, 102-99, Muncie, Ind.)
• The two teams were tied 43-0 at halftime before Ole Miss took the lead with a three-point win on Long Island.
• Ansu Sesay (Ole Miss): 28 points, 11-16 FG, 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, two steals.
• Keith Carter (Ole Miss): 16 points, 5-7 FG, 2-2 3PFG, 16 rebounds, four assists, two steals.
• Charles Jones (Long Island): 39 points, 13-30 FG, 10-12 FT, six rebounds, three assists.

Looking for the sharks
Last season, the LIU Sharks finished with an overall record of 7-22, starting the 2023-24 season with a record of 1-12 before turning things around in conference play and going 6-10.

The team's top returning player is Terell Strickland, son of head coach Rod Strickland. He averaged 7.2 points in 18 games last season, including a season-best 18 at UCLA. He will be joined by transfer Jamal Fuller, who averaged 18 points per game last year at Division II Academy of Art University, and guard Blake Lander from Whittier, where he averaged 14 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Head coach Rod Strickland begins his third year at LIU in 2024-25 after going 10-48 in the previous two seasons. He was previously an assistant coach at South Florida from 2014 to 2017 after completing a 17-year playing career in the NBA from 1988 to 2005. As a player, Strickland was selected in the first round of the NBA draft by the New York Knicks. DePaul earned NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors in 1989 and was named All-NBA Second Team in 1998 after leading the league with the had led assists. He was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

SEASON OPENING STORY AT OLE MISS
In 114 seasons of Ole Miss basketball, the Rebels have compiled a record of 89-25 (.781) in their opening games. They have won nine straight to start their tournament schedule, including 19 of the last 20.

I HAVE ALL THE NUMBERS
The 2024-25 Ole Miss basketball squad boasts some serious career stats. Five players scored over 1,000 points in their college careers, including Matthew Murrell (1,444), Sean Pedulla (1,230), Dre Davis (1.144), Jaemyn Brakefield (1.103) and Mikeal Brown Jones (1,015). Jaylen Murray (995) and Von Barnes (924) are close to reaching this mark.

“I'm like mayonnaise because I'm slippery and it's dangerous to leave it open”
This year's squad features a mountain of shooting talent, particularly from beyond the three-point arc. With over 900 three-pointers on the 2024-25 roster, the Rebels will look to get their offense from deep this season. Among current Ole Miss squad members, they made a combined 430 from three shots during the 2023-24 season, a total that would have led all of college basketball last year.

2023-24 made three points (30+)

Matthew Murrell: 78

Jaylen Murray: 72

Von Barnes: 59 (at Sam Houston)

Sean Pedulla: 53 (at Virginia Tech)

Malik Dia: 44 (at Belmont)

Jaemyn Brakefield:38

Dre Davis: 35 (at Seton Hall)

Experienced veterans
With 10 seniors on the roster, Ole Miss averages 284.3, the fourth-most minutes per game among all Power Five programs in the country and the highest in the SEC. In total, Ole Miss players have appeared in 921 career collegiate games, making 509 starts. The Rebels are one of 18 programs in the country with at least five players playing in their fifth year of college basketball.

Settled in
Second-year success under Chris Beard has been evident throughout his coaching career. At Angelo State, he went from 19 wins his freshman year (2013-14) to 28 his sophomore year (2014-15) and reached the round of 16 of the NCAA Division II Tournament. He then increased his win total by nine as a sophomore at Texas Tech (18 wins in 2016-17, 27 wins in 2017-18) and led the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight in 2018. After his first season at Texas, Beard began the next season with convincing victories over No. 2 Gonzaga and No. 7 Creighton, earning him a national ranking of No. 2 in the nation.

A BIG TEN TEST
The Ole Miss team got an early look at where it ranks among the best in the country when it hosted Illinois for its charity event on Oct. 27. The Illini, picked at No. 24 in the Coaches Preseason Poll, gave the Rebels a quick test opener before their regular season. Ole Miss met the challenge behind clutch shooting, scoring 51 points in the first half before ultimately winning by 17 points in a 91-74 contest. Malik Dia led the Rebels with 18 points on 7-8 shooting, went 3-3 from three-point range and had three steals on defense. Jaemyn Brakefield added 15 points and led the team with eight rebounds off the bench.

EYES ON OXFORD
Ole Miss has earned numerous national recognitions heading into the 2024-25 season. Starting with the national polls, the Rebels were ranked No. 24 in the preseason AP poll for the second time in program history and earned a preseason ranking of No. 25 in the coaches' poll for the first time ever.

Other networks that had Ole Miss in the preseason rankings include: ESPN's 'Way-Too-Early' Top 25 up to No. 20, Field of 68 up to No. 22, John Fanta's preseason top 25 up No. 20. 24, Jon Rothstein's preseason ranking at No. 27, and a spot in ESPN's Joe Lunardi's offseason bracketology, peaking at No. 7.

INTERIM HARDWARE
The college basketball world is praising not only the team, but also many of Ole Miss' players heading into the 2024-25 season.

Matthew Murrell:
– Preseason All-SEC Second Team (Media)
– Preseason All-SEC Second Team (Coach)
– Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Watchlist
– Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year, Preseason Top 20 (Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame)
– No. 58 in the ESPN Preseason Top 100

Malik Dia:
– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Preseason Top 20 (Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame)

Dre Davis:
– No. 78 in the ESPN Preseason Top 100

PARTY IN THE SIP
Ole Miss, including the team, fans and students, helped make the SJB Pavilion one of the premier facilities in college basketball last year. A new record for total home game attendance was set last year in the 2023/24 season, surpassing the previous record by over 11,000. On the field, the Rebels set a new stadium record by winning twelve straight home games.

The boys are back in town
Ole Miss' roster includes six returning players from last season, including three starters. Last year's top scorer Matthew Murrell (16.2 PPG, 78 3 p.m.) is supported by fellow 2023-24 starters Jaemyn Brakefield (12.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG) and Jaylen Murray (13.8 PPG, 72 3 p.m.). guards TJ Caldwell (5.5 PPG), Robert Cowherd (10 GP) and Cam Brent (6 GP) round out the group of returnees.

Soon a household name
This year's team features six players who transferred from other college programs:

Von BarnesSam Houston (2023-24: 13.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 59 3PFGM, ​​54 ast.)

Yes'From BensonHampton (2023-24: 32 GP, 15 MPG, 46 blk., 7.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG)

Mikeal Brown JonesUNC Greensboro (2023-24: 18.9 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 24 Blk.)

Dre DavisSeton Hall (2023-24: 15.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 60 ast., 34 stl., 49 blk.)

Malik DiaBelmont (2023-24: 16.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 44 3PFGM, ​​27 stl., 26 blk.)

Sean PedullaVirginia Tech (2023-24: 16.4 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.6 APG, 53 3PFGM, ​​37 stl.)

I'm an old miss rebel
Ole Miss' roster features four first-year college players John Bol, Zach Day And Eduardo Klafkeas well as seniors Max Smith.

Bol, a 7'2″ forward from Overtime Elite in Atlanta, was ranked as the second-highest recruit in program history according to 247Sports. The South Sudan native was a consensus four-star recruit and was even ranked No. 38 in the nation by 247Sports and No. 40 by ESPN, Klafke is a 6'5″ guard with great shooting and playmaking ability. He trained at the prestigious NBA Academy Latin America and spent all of last spring as a freshman at Ole Miss. Day is from Midland, Texas, where he averaged 24 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a senior at Midland Christian. Smith joined the team as an Ole Miss senior and previously played at Anderson High School in Austin, Texas, where he averaged 24 points per game.

For the latest Ole Miss men's basketball news and updates, follow the Rebels on X at @OleMissMBBon Facebook at Ole Miss Men's Basketball and on Instagram at olemissmbb.