Ole Miss Basketball: Ole Miss Falls To Utah 83-74, Rice Up Next

Ole Miss basketball faced a tough Utah Runnin’ Utes team in Vegas Monday night and fell short in the contest by the score of 83-74.

There were a lot of Ole Miss basketball fans who burned the midnight oil in hopes of seeing the Rebels play in Vegas. Sadly, they watched a red-hot shooting Utah Utes team get the win over the Ole Miss Rebels.

The Utah Runnin’ Utes potent offense stymied the Rebels defense early and it led to a 3 point deficit at the half. The high-low action under the basket from Utah gave the Rebels problems within the first half. The second half wasn’t much better as the Utes exceptional perimeter play was dominant. However, lets look at the numbers for the Rebels.

Hoops By The Numbers

Ole Miss Rebels Basketball

When we begin to look at the numbers the one which glares out is the final score. In this case 83-74 makes the game look much worse than it really was. Of course, a loss is still a loss and it gave the Rebels their first of the season which puts them at 3-1 thus far.

The rest of the team numbers aren’t much better when you break them down. As a team the Rebels were 25 of 58 from the field. That’s only 43.1% compared to Utah which shot 47.3% from the field.

The Rebels also shot lower from the charity line than Utah. The Rebels were 16 of 24 for 76.2% while the Utes went 20 of 24 for 83.3%. From the 3 point line the Rebels didn’t fare much better. They 8 of 24 for 33.3% while Utah shot 11 of 29 for 37.3%.

Big Players Off The Bench

It’s only natural that most great basketball players would rather start a game than sit the bench. However Deandre Burnett enjoys his role as a bench player and has embraced it. Burnett led all Rebels in scoring Monday night with 21 points. Burnett also had 4 rebounds, 1 assist and a steal in the game.

Ole Miss basketball saw 46 points from their bench Monday night which extraordinary when you consider they only scored 73 total points in the game. The Utah bench only provided 26 points in the game. This Ole Miss team continues to impress me with their depth and I stand behind my original statement, this could be Andy Kennedy’s deepest and best team yet.

Next: Always A Controversy!

Up Next For The Rebels

With the loss Monday night the Rebels are set to face off with the Rice Owls. The Owls were routed by the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels in the early game Monday night. The game is set to tip-off at 9pm CT and will be televised on ESPNU. Hotty Toddy!