Some Saturday night heroics in the bayou have No. 19 Ole Miss riding a two-game winning streak, but the Rebels realize no opponent can be taken lightly in the Southeastern Conference.
Coach Chris Beard’s squad will play its second straight struggling foe when it faces last-place South Carolina on Wednesday night in Columbia, S.C.
Ole Miss (18-6, 7-4 SEC) broke a disturbing recent trend while beating LSU on Saturday: The Rebels were victorious in a close game.
In SEC contests decided by three points or fewer, Beard’s bunch entered the battle in Baton Rouge 1-2 — and the Rebels did just about everything they could to make sure a third loss was coming.
They shot 37.7 percent overall and made just 6 of 23 3-point attempts (26.1 percent). Ole Miss sank only 20 of 29 free throws (69 percent) and was outrebounded by one.
Even against the 15th-place team among the SEC’s 16, Ole Miss was working on a recipe for a bad defeat against a bad team.
However, the Rebels rallied with a game-ending 13-0 run and got a buzzer-beating tip-in from Dre Davis for a 72-70 victory, its third triumph in four outings.
“Couldn’t get a stop for most of the game,” Beard said. “We had to take care of the ball and kind of score with them for a while. We only had one turnover in the second half and only five for the game.”
Taking advantage of possessions has been a key to the Rebels’ success.
In their 98-84 win over then-No. 14 Kentucky on Feb. 4, the Rebels produced 24 assists while committing only one turnover, a result mostly of point guard Sean Pedulla’s play.
The Virginia Tech transfer had 17 points against LSU and leads with averages of 15 points and 2.1 steals per game. He is second with 3.8 assists per contest, trailing only Jaylen Murray’s 3.9.
Fifth in scoring for Ole Miss at 10.5 ppg, Davis will go to South Carolina hot, averaging 15.3 points in his past four games.
Not much is sizzling for the Gamecocks (10-13, 0-10), who are on a 10-game losing streak. They have not tasted victory since closing out the nonconference schedule with a 69-59 rally past Presbyterian on Dec. 30.
Half of South Carolina’s SEC setbacks have been by double figures, with four of those five by at least 20 points.
South Carolina dropped a pair of three-point decisions — one of them to then-No. 2 Auburn — before falling 70-69 at home to the then-No. 5 Florida despite holding a 14-point second-half lead.
An overtime loss against then-No. 14 Mississippi State and a four-point defeat against then-No. 13 Texas A&M followed. The Gamecocks’ most recent game wasn’t close, though, an 80-57 setback against then-No. 14 Kentucky on Saturday.
“I spend most of my time, particularly in years where we’re struggling in any facet of the game, trying to help our guys get as good as they can possibly get so that our product is as good as it can get,” Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris said. “That takes a lot of time. I wouldn’t be a good coach if we didn’t spend any time on the opponent. We do that.
“But the yeoman’s work is focused on what we do and how we can do that better.”
Standout hometown product Collin Murray-Boyles tops South Carolina with averages of 15.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. Jamarii Thomas leads in assists (3.3) and steals (1.6) while putting up 13.1 points per contest.
