Late Drama Pushes Ole Miss Rebels Past Temple in Philadelphia

The Ole Miss Rebels needed the final minute of play to come out with a one-point win over Temple on Wednesday.

The Ole Miss Rebels have a propensity for late-game drama early in the season.

The Rebels' (5-0) latest iteration of a close game came on Wednesday afternoon when they knocked off the Temple Owls 77-76 in Philadelphia, and it took two Allen Flanigan free throws with nine seconds left to secure the win. Ole Miss led most of the day and had a strong showing from beyond the arc, but it could not put the Owls away until the final possession.

As a team, Ole Miss went 10-of-18 from three, good for 55.6 percent on the day. Flanigan, who led the team with 26 points, went 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, and Jaylen Murray led the team with three threes.

TJ Caldwell (14), Matthew Murrell (12) and Murray (11) joined Flanigan in double-digit point totals.

"I thought we got some great individual performances tonight, which you've always have to have on the road in college basketball," Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said postgame. "There's no doubt about it that Al [Flanigan] put us on his back for several segments in this game. 

"I think from our standpoint, we've got a long ways to go. It's early season, but I thought our defensive rebounding and offensive rebounding in the second half separated us a little bit. We made it an objective at halftime to try and out-rebound them, and I thought that was the big difference in the game."

Allen Flanigan vs. Sam Houston State in Oxford / Carleigh Harbin-The Grove Report

The Rebels out-rebounded Temple 36-29 in Wednesday's game.

From the field, Ole Miss shot 50.8 percent, a stronger offensive performance than in recent games. Temple, by comparison, shot 44.1 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from three.

With the win, the Rebels remain perfect on the season, but their last three wins have come by a total of five points, showing some early-season rust in putting games away, but this did mark their first game and win away from home in the 2023-24 season.

Rebels Edge Past Sam Houston State in 'Throwback Game' at Tad Smith Coliseum

Ole Miss' next test will be a stiffer one, playing host to the NC State Wolfpack on Tuesday at the SJB Pavilion as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on ESPN2.