Photo: Over 1,600 fans saw the Ole Miss Rebels defeat Colorado State Saturday afternoon at the Landers Center. (Mary Scott/Oak River Media for desotocountynews.com)
Nov. 16, 2024 – In its first game at the Landers Center since 2014, the Ole Miss basketball team defeated Colorado State 84-69 before 1,652 fans on Saturday afternoon.
“It might seem like it’s just the standard response every time, but I really appreciate the crowd today,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “A lot of Ole Miss people came from Oxford and they came from the Memphis area.”
The Rebels, playing a home game on the Landers Center floor, ran their record to 5-1 on the Southaven floor. The last time Ole Miss played in DeSoto County, they defeated Southeast Missouri 82-51 on Dec. 22. The first time the Rebels played here was in 2001, when Tennessee-Martin was the opponent and the Rebels won that one 83-72. The only loss came in 2011, when Middle Tennessee won 68-56, stopping a three-game Rebel win streak in Southaven.
this year’s schedule had Ole Miss in Southaven and later this year playing in Biloxi on Dec. 14 against Southern Miss. Beard, in post-game comments, said he feels a responsibility as a coach of a state school is to take the Ole Miss brand and team out to different parts of the state.
“We got a lot of great fans, alumni, donors, and former students who live in different parts of the state,” Beard said. “We are appreciative of the people that came out tonight here in this area, the state, close to Memphis, where we have a big donor base through alumni.”
In the game, five Rebels were in double figures against Colorado State, led by Jaylen Murray with 16 points. Mikeal Brown-Jones (14), Malik Dia (11), Dre Davis (11), and Matthew Murrell (10) also hit double figures.
Ole Miss led by as many as 24 in the opening half and took a 19-point lead into the locker room with a 45-26 lead.
Colorado State’s Jalen Lake led the Rams with 15 points in the second half as the lead was cut to nine with 5:43 to play.
Ole Miss hit a season low for turnovers with four. The win was also coach Chris Beard’s personal 19th straight victory in the month of November. His teams have won 45 games in 51 outings in the month.
Photos from the game are courtesy Mary School, Oak River Media for desotocountynews.com.
