Historic rebounding night lifts Ole Miss past Rider

Michael Katz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
·2 min read

Dec. 1—OXFORD — Behind a strong second-half shooting performance and a historic rebounding effort, the Ole Miss men's basketball team cruised past Rider 75-51 on Tuesday night at SJB Pavilion.

The Rebels (5-2) grabbed 57 rebounds as a team, the most for the program in a single game since 2007. After a slow start offensively, Ole Miss found its grove in the second half, hitting 45.2% of its shots from the field.

Senior center Nysier Brooks led the Rebels with 15 rebounds, the most for an Ole Miss player since 2017. Senior guard Tye Fagan added 10 rebounds, and, as a team, the Rebels outrebounded the Broncs by 21.

"It's a lot of effort, to be honest with you," Brooks said. "Along with this game and a couple other games ... coach has just been emphasizing that we need to crash the boards, give us more second-chance opportunities.

"It's a lot of effort. And it's just moreso different guys just going to the rim."

Senior guard Jarkel Joiner led all scorers with 18 points, 11 of those coming in the second half.

Ole Miss started the game just 3 of 13 from the field but got hot partway through the first half, making seven of their next 11 on the way to a 12-point lead. Rider finished the first on a 6-0 run and trailed by six at halftime.

After increasing the lead to 14 with 6 minutes, 25 seconds left in the second half, the Rebels went on a 15-0 run to surge ahead by 29.

"The second half is as fast as we've played," coach Kermit Davis said. "(Rebounding) allowed us to get into transition.

"It really is defensive stops, and we didn't turn them over that much, either. ... We had guys run harder. You have to throw balls ahead, and then give another guy the advantage, and now start playing. And I thought we did more of that. ... In college basketball, everybody needs cheap baskets in transition."

Up next is a showdown with No. 18 Memphis Saturday morning. The Tigers feature potential No. 1 NBA draft pick Emoni Bates, and a large crowd is expected to be on hand.

While most players would declare Saturday to be just another game, Joiner is fully aware of the opportunity at hand.

"You hear the cliches. It's always 'another game.' But this game is not another game," Joiner said. "This is a big game for us."