Rebels Drop Game 5 of 2024 SEC Tournament to Texas A&M

The Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball team did not make it far in the 2024 Southeastern Conference Tournament.

The Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball team started and finished its journey in the 2024 Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday night, losing to the Texas A&M Aggies in the Bridgestone Arena 80-71 in the second round of the competition. 

The Rebels faced the Aggies last Saturday in the final regular season game of the 2023-24 season, and got crushed 86-60 in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion. Ole Miss had an opportunity to get payback versus A&M on Thursday evening, but it ended up being another game highlighted by turnovers, missed shots, and another late comeback attempt.

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The Rebels fought hard in the first half, but only held an advantage for three-and-a-half total minutes, and went into the locker room at halftime trailing the Aggies 35-31. Jaylen Murray, Allen Flanigan, and Jaemyn Brakefield all led Ole Miss in scoring in the first 20 minutes with eight points each.

Texas A&M started the second period slow, however, and the Rebels took advantage. Ole Miss cut the Aggie lead to one point with 15 minutes remaining in the game, but then proceeded to go on a three-minute scoring drought. 

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Things continued to get worse for the Rebels, as the Aggies took an 54-45 advantage at the U8 timeout - good enough for their biggest lead of game at that point. Ole Miss nearly mounted a comeback, however, in the final two minutes of the game. A 10-0 Ole Miss run coupled with a A&M scoring drought brought the Rebels within three points of the Aggies. Unfortunately, hope quickly vanished once Ole Miss was forced to commit fouls to preserve time.

Ole Miss was led in scoring by Brakefield with 23 points, and he was joined in double digits by Flanigan (17), Murray (10), and Matthew Murrell (14). As a team, the Rebels shot 42 percent from the field and 29 from three compared to percentages of 37 and 24 from the Aggies, respectively.