Ole Miss holds on to upset No. 18 Memphis
Dec. 4—OXFORD — For very different reasons, Saturday's matinee matchup between Ole Miss and No. 18 Memphis meant a little bit more for senior guard Jarkel Joiner and sophomore guard Matthew Murrell.
Joiner is an Oxford native who transferred in from Cal State Bakersfield before the 2020 season. His first campaign as a Rebel didn't allow for much in the way of home crowds due to COVID-19. And, to start the 2021 season, the SJB Pavilion wasn't close to packed.
Murrell, on the other hand, is a Memphis native who knows many of the players and coaches on the Tigers. He distinctly remembers playing against a Penny Hardaway coached team in high school; Hardaway is, of course, now the head coach at Memphis.
Murrell was looking forward to playing the Tigers last year, but that game was canceled due to the pandemic. He admits this game has been circled on his calendar for the better part of a year.
In a game that featured more than its fair share of late game theatrics, Joiner and Murrell came through when the Rebels needed them most.
Joiner dominated the first half against Memphis Saturday with 13 points and Murrell did his damage in the second, scoring 16 in the game's final 20 minutes. Ole Miss led by as many as 11 points late but had to withstand a late Tiger rally.
The Rebels sealed the game with clutch free throws and upset the ranked Tigers 67-63. Ole Miss (6-2) made 14 of 16 free throws over the game's final six minutes.
Joiner led the Rebels with 20 points while Murrell finished with 19. It is the fourth-straight win for Ole Miss over ranked opponents, a mark that dates back to last season.
"It meant everything," Joiner said. "Playing against that type of coaching staff and the type of players, the history of Memphis, you know how good they are, how good they've always been. We felt like we could get them. And we got them today."
In a first half that was largely devoid of consistent offense from either team, Joiner shined, scoring his 13 on 5 of 9 shooting. Memphis shot just 37% from the field in the first half and failed to make a 3-pointer. The Rebels led 30-26 at halftime despite shooting under 40% from the field themselves.
Joiner scored eight of the Rebels' final 10 points in the half.
Memphis' first 3-pointer of the afternoon didn't come until six minutes into the second half, but Alex Lomax's shot from deep gave the Tigers a 38-36 lead after having trailed the previous 11 minutes.
Back-to-back-to back 3-pointers from Sammy Hunter and Murrell (two) put the Rebels back up. Murrell scored eight-straight points to help push the lead to six with 9 minutes, 19 seconds to play. Ole Miss led by 11 with just over two minutes to play.
"This game definitely meant a little more to me, just because I'm from the city of Memphis. I grew up around all those guys," Murrell said. "Definitely a big game for me."
The Tigers cut the lead down to two points with 14 seconds to play, however, as Tyler Harris's free throws capped off his seven-point spurt over the final two minutes.
Senior center Nysier Brooks then calmly hit two free throws with 10 seconds to play to seal the game. It was admittedly in stark contrast to a November matchup against Marquette where the Rebels made just 4 of 13 free throws in the second half in a 78-72 loss.
"I don't know if I've ever had a big guy who works so much on his free throw shooting. He's really kind of changed his whole setup and how he approaches free throwing," coach Kermit Davis said. "He's done really, really well. ...
"If we would have made free throws, we would have beat Marquette. We can analyze a lot of different things, it comes down to real simple things some times. Just go to the line and making free throws under pressure. (I'm) sure proud of our guys."
When the final buzzer sounded, the Rebels sprinted onto the floor to celebrate, and the fans in the stands made their joy known as well. As for what was said in the locker room postgame?
"I said what, 'What about them Rebels?'" Davis said. "That was great."
MICHAEL KATZ is the Ole Miss athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at michael.katz@djournal.com.
