State of the Program: Ole Miss Men's Basketball

With the spring semester now underway in Oxford, let's take a look at how the major sports on campus sit early in 2023, beginning with men's basketball.

The spring semester is now underway at the University of Mississippi, and with a new year comes new challenges and expectations in the sports world.

The same can be said for the major sports at Ole Miss. Over the next few days, The Grove Report will analyze the current state of these teams in Oxford in a series of columns titled "State of the Program." 

Much like the president's State of the Union address, these pieces are designed to lay out the general feeling surrounding a program here in late January. Today, we dive into men's basketball.

Where, exactly, should we start?

Times are tough for Kermit Davis' squad, currently sitting at 9-10 overall and a basement-dwelling 1-6 in SEC play. Matthew Murrell is potentially not at 100 percent, and things, for lack of a better term, are bleak. Barring a miraculous turnaround, the Rebels could be searching for a new coach at the end of the season.

That's the bad news for Rebel fans. The good news? That same phrase was said last year about Mike Bianco before his baseball team went on to win a national title.

This, however, is not baseball.

Ole Miss has a scoring problem, and in any sport, that's a pretty big issue. The Rebels' baseball team last season had the talent to be successful; they just didn't find their stride early. As a basketball team, however, that doesn't appear to be the case. 

The Rebels are averaging 67 PPG, but they seem unable to answer scoring runs by an opponent with a scoring frenzy of their own. The lack of a consistent shooting threat (Murrell is the only player averaging double digit PPG) is likely going to sink this team unless it can find some offense and find it quickly.

Is the season over? Technically, no, but any postseason aspirations this team may have had entering the year are probably not going to come to pass. That's the simple reality given the current state of the win column, and many fans are shifting their focus to the women's basketball team or the upcoming baseball season.

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You can follow John Macon on Twitter at @JMakeGillespie.

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