On Tuesday night, No. 25 Ole Miss picked up its largest win ever over No. 14 Kentucky, 98-84.
Prior to Tuesday, Ole Miss’ largest margin of victory over the Wildcats was a 65-55 win in 2001. It was the program’s first win over a ranked Kentucky team since 2011 while the 98 points were the most the Rebels have scored against Kentucky in program history.
Ole Miss held a commanding 54-31 lead at the break and led by as many as 27 in the game. The Rebels were 35-of-64 (54.7%) from the floor and 13-of-30 (43.3%) from long-range. Impressively, Ole Miss had 24 assists and only one turnover the entire game.
Senior guard Matthew Murrell led the team with 24 points (8-of-13 FG), including this backdoor cut early in the second half that put Ole Miss up 64-37.
For Kentucky, the sting from Saturday’s loss to former head coach John Calipari and Arkansas seemed to be real as the Wildcats looked like they were sleepwalking for much of the first half. Aside from trimming the Ole Miss lead to 92-81 with 1:20 remaining, the game was never really in doubt.
The offense was on point once again. The Wildcats shot 50% overall and made 10 threes. Junior guard Otega Oweh led the team with 24 points while senior center Amari Williams had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. That was the fourth triple double in Kentucky history, joining Chris Mills (1988), De’Aaron Fox (2016) and Isaiah Briscoe (2016).
After facing their third-largest halftime deficit in program history and playing from behind the entire game, it is apparent the Wildcats need Lamont Butler (left shoulder) back on the floor after missing his third consecutive game on Tuesday.
The senior guard leads the team with 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals. Kentucky has combined for 34 turnovers in those three games, something the team has struggled with mightily in Butler’s absence.
With four losses in its last five games, Kentucky (15-7, 4-5) heads back home for a pair of games against South Carolina and No. 4 Tennessee. If the Wildcats are going to turn things around, they will need Butler back on the floor and a much-improved defensive effort for an entire game.