Ole Miss Basketball: Rebels look to make 2025 NCAA Tournament with help from returning players and transfers

The Ole Miss Rebels were routed to the NIT Tournament once again last season after failing to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight year. 

Last year marked former Texas head coach Chris Beard’s first season in Oxford and it looked promising out of the gate as the Rebels launched the season off with 13 straight non-conference wins, including a 20-point win over eventual Cinderella story authors North Carolina State.

Once SEC play rolled through though, things took a turn for the worse for Ole Miss as they subsided into less of a force, dropping three out of its first five conference matchups and eventually finishing with a 7-11 conference record. Beard and his squad rounded out his inaugural season with a 20-12 overall record, which was significantly stronger than Ole Miss’ 12-21 record the year prior. 

This year, Beard has built an even more dangerous roster through the transfer portal as he brought in four-star Virginia Tech transfer Sean Pedulla, four-star Seton Hall transfer Dre Davis, four-star Belmont transfer Malik Dia, four-star UNC Greensboro transfer Mikeal Brown Jones and three-star Sam Houston transfer Davon Barnes. 

Davis highlights this list as arguably the biggest get for Beard as the 6-foot, 6-inch guard averaged 15 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists while playing a mammoth-sized role in Seton Hall’s run to winning the NIT Tournament. In the NIT Tournament, through Seton Hall’s five games, Davis scored at least 14 points in each game with his largest number (19) coming in the semifinals against - soon to be SEC opponent - Georgia.

On top of gaining new faces, the Rebels are returning key players in guard Matthew Murrell, who averaged a team-high 16.2 points, guard Jaylen Murray, who averaged 13.8 points and a team-high four assists, along with forward Jaemyn Brakefield who averaged 12.9 points and 4.9 rebounds. 

With the positives come the negatives though, as Ole Miss is losing Allen Flanigan, who exhausted his NCAA eligibility. Flanigan is a 6-foot, 6-inch guard who averaged 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists in his final go-around last year. While the departure of Flanigan will sting, the Rebels will still be in great shape with the core returning players and incoming transfers. 

Ole Miss opens up the season with an exhibition game against Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 27 at home and from there it kicks off the regular season on Monday, Nov. 4 at home against Long Island.