Tag: Pres

OXFORD — No. 23 Ole Miss can add one hell of a top line to its resume Saturday, but to do it, the Rebels will have to figure out a way to take down No. 1 Auburn.

Tipoff at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion is set for 1 p.m.

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TEAM FACTS

No. 23/23 Ole Miss Rebels (Record: 16-5, 5-3 SEC)

Head Coach: Chris Beard • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (36-17) • 273-115 career record (13th Season)

No. 1/1 Auburn Tigers (Record: 19-1, 7-0 SEC)

Head Coach: Bruce Pearl • 11th Season at Auburn (219-120) • 691-265 career record (30th Season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: ESPN

Play-by-Play: Dave O’Brien

Color: Cory Alexander

OLE MISS RADIO

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network

Play-by-Play: David Kellum

Color: Marc Dukes

SOLD OUT!

Tickets for Saturday’s game are sold out through the Ole Miss Athletics ticket office. Fans can check SeatGeek, the official secondary marketplace of the Rebels, for other options. Please download your mobile tickets prior to arriving at the stadium to ensure the swiftest entry.

ARRIVE EARLY!

With a large crowd anticipated, fans are encouraged to arrive early. Gates open at 11 a.m. for students and 11:30 for ticketed fans.

STRIPE THE PAVILION

Click here to check your color and help us Stripe the Pavilion in red and powder blue. Powder blue t-shirts will be available for the first 1,600 students.

SERIES HISTORY VS. AUBURN

This will be the 148th meeting between Ole Miss and Auburn in men’s basketball, with the two first meeting in 1928 when the Rebels won 43-42. While the Tigers own the all-time series lead 83-64, Ole Miss holds the advantage when playing in Oxford, 43-26. The Rebels are searching for their first victory over Auburn since they swept them in two games during the 2020-21 season, as the Tigers have taken the last six matchups.

LAST MEETING: February 3, 2024 (L, 77-91, Oxford, Miss.)

• Ole Miss led No. 16 Auburn as the half 44-35, outshooting them 51.5% to 38.2% over the first 20 minutes. The Tigers stormed back in the second half by shooting 73.3 percent from the floor (22-30), scoring 56 points in the final period to win by 14.

• Allen Flanigan (Ole Miss): 20 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal.

• Jaylin Williams (Auburn): 16 points, five rebounds, two assists.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

The top-ranked team in the nation, Auburn brings an overall record of 19-1 and SEC record of 7-0 to Oxford this Saturday. Their lone win came at the hands of No. 9 Duke during the SEC/ACC Challenge, but they picked up massive wins during the non-conference stretch over No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 12 North Carolina, Memphis, and No. 16 Purdue. Their seven victories over conference foes have come against Missouri, Texas, South Carolina, No. 15 Mississippi State, No. 23 Georgia, No. 6 Tennessee, and LSU. Auburn not only sits at the top of the AP and Coaches Top 25 polls, but the latest NET Rankings as well, a position they’ve held since December 10.

A preseason SEC Player of the Year candidate and preseason all-American candidate, Johni Broome has led Auburn all season and currently averages 18.2 points per game (second in the SEC) and a conference-best 11.2 rebounds per game. The fifth-year forward also ranks among the nation’s best in blocks per game at 2.8, best in the SEC and fifth in the NCAA, and double-doubles with 12, best in the SEC and fifth in the NCAA as well.

Five players average double digits in scoring, paced by Broome’s 18.2, Chad Baker-Mazara at 12.7, Tahaad Pettiford at 11.7, Miles Kelly with 10.4, and Denver Jones with 10.0.

Auburn leads the nation in blocks per game with an average of 7.0 per game, and ranks fourth in assist-turnover ratio at 1.82, and fourth in scoring margin at +18.4. The Tigers rank second in the SEC, behind Ole Miss, and sixth in the nation with an average of just 9.4 turnovers committed per game.

Currently in his 30th season as an NCAA head coach, Bruce Pearl has guided Auburn for 11 seasons. His 681 wins are the 12th-most among active coaches, with his win percentage of 72.0% ranking 15th among actives. Prior to earning the position at Auburn, Pearl was the head coach at Tennessee from 2005-2011, at Milwaukee from 2001-2005, and Southern Indiana from 1992-2001. He is an eight-time conference coach of the year, earning the honor in the SEC three times. He’s won three regular season SEC titles, two SEC Tournament titles, and has guided his team to the NCAA Tournament as a Division I head coach 13 times.

LUNARDI SAYS “DANCE”

Updated each Tuesday and Friday, the latest bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Ole Miss as a six seed in the Midwest Region. They are projected by Lunardi to face the winner of 11-seed Ohio State or North Carolina in Wichita, Kan., paired with three-seeded Kansas and 14th-seeded Northern Colorado. The highest seed for the Ole Miss program came in the 2001 tournament, when they were set as a three seed and reached the Sweet 16. Lunardi’s latest projections has 13 teams from the SEC earning a ticket to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, a number that would be the most for a single conference all time.

Six former Ole Miss football players have been partaking in the Reese’s Senior Bowl activities this week, and tomorrow they will play in the Senior Bowl.

Jaxson Dart, Walter Nolen, Trey Amos, Princely Umanmielen, Caden Davis and Jared Ivey have all been turning heads at practice this week, helping to boost their stock for the upcoming NFL Draft.

The Senior Bowl is set for a 1:30 p.m. CT kickoff on Saturday from Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, and will be broadcast by NFL Network.

Ole Miss track & field returns to action this weekend, heading to Arkansas for the national-caliber Razorback Invitational, which is set to run Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Fans will be able to watch the action live on SECN+.

FOLLOW ALONG

Live Results: Flash Results

Live Stream: SEC Network+

Day 1 Stream: 5:30 p.m. CT

Day 2 Stream: 11 a.m. CT

MEET NOTES

• This marks the first competition for the Rebels in two weeks, since coming away with six event titles and numerous highly-ranked performances at the Vanderbilt Invitational on Jan. 17-18.

• The Rebel men came in at No. 13 in the first USTFCCCA National Rating Index for the 2025 indoor season.

• Alongside Ole Miss in Fayetteville this weekend will be: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa State, Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma (women only), Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Utah (women only).

• Ranked men’s teams alongside the 13th-ranked Rebels include: No. 6 Iowa State, No. 7 Texas, No. 18 Arkansas, No. 21 Florida, No. 22 Oklahoma State and No. 25 Tennessee.

• Ranked women’s teams include: No. 4 Arkansas, No. 8 Oregon, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 11 Georgia, No. 19 Texas, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 24 Tennessee.

• Ole Miss is set to receive several key debuts at Arkansas this weekend. All-American senior Cal Baptist transfer Greta Karinauskaite is set to make her Rebel debut in the 3K, with additional mid-year transfers on the men’s side such as All-American Pratt Community College junior transfer Joseph Michel (60-meter dash) and Florida State senior transfer Kidus Misgina (3K).

• All-American senior Toby Gillen (3K) is scheduled to run for the first time since his season-opening 5K in Boston on Dec. 7, while senior regional qualifier Drew O’Connor (pole vault) is set to make his 2025 debut.

• Freshman Jordan Urrutia is slated to run in his first collegiate 200 and 400 at Arkansas this weekend. Urrutia owns among the fastest proper 300-meter times in Ole Miss history at 33.71, and he finished his senior season at Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama as Track & Field News’ 26th-rated 200-meter boys recruit at a wind-aided 20.85.

• Helping push the 13th-ranked Rebels are three performances currently within the NCAA top-five from junior and Bowerman watch list member Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan in the shot put (1st, 20.83m/68-04.25) and weight throw (3rd, 23.99m/78-08.50), as well as fellow junior Arvesta Troupe in the high jump (4th, 2.20m/7-02.50).

• Robinson-O’Hagan is the current world leader in the shot put at that season-best set at the Vanderbilt Invitational two weeks ago, which is inching closer to his overall career-best 21.05m/69-00.75 that won him the first of two NCAA titles as a sophomore in 2024. Earlier, Robinson-O’Hagan set the best throws in available records since at least 2008 that early into the season both on Dec. 6 (20.30m/66-07.25) and Jan. 11 (20.51m/67-03.50).

• Robinson-O’Hagan’s NCAA No. 3 mark in the weight throw not only won him the crown at Vanderbilt, but it also registered as a one-foot PR that broke his own Ole Miss record and moved him into 16th in collegiate history.

• Robinson-O’Hagan ranks third in men’s collegiate history indoors in combined weight throw and shot put distance at 45.04m, making him one of only three to ever break 78 feet in the weight (23.99m/78-08.50) and 69 feet in the shot (21.05m/69-0.75) behind North Dakota State’s Payton Otterdahl (45.92m) and Ohio State’s Dan Taylor (45.34m) — the latter of whom was also coached by Ole Miss throws coach John Smith.

• The Rebel men’s weight throwers looked to be a powerful group on paper entering the 2025 season, and have already proven that right with four currently ranked within the national top-40. Junior Bryson Smith is already the second-best in school history behind Robinson-O’Hagan, currently ranking 20th nationally at his career-best 21.81m/71-06.75 from Vanderbilt. Smith and Robinson-O’Hagan are the lone 70-footers in Ole Miss history

• Also ranked within the top-40 in the men’s weight throw are junior Mason Hickel (32nd, 21.02m/68-11.75) and senior Costen Campion (40th, 20.51m/67-03.50).

• Junior Arvesta Troupe’s fourth-ranked high jump mark, meanwhile, came from Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Invitational, where he cleared that overall career-best 2.20m/7-02.50. That height is the best by a Rebel men’s jumper indoors since 2020, and it’s tied for third all-time in Ole Miss history indoors. This season, Troupe’s performance currently ranks tied for 14th worldwide and tied for fourth in the United States.

• Other Rebel men with current NCAA top-50 performances are: Toby Gillen in the 5K (18th, 13:30.34), Max Armstrong in the 800-meter (22nd, 1:49.29), Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley in the triple jump (32nd, 15.49m/50-10), Marcus Dropik in the 800-meter (38th, 1:49.88) and John Kendricks in the pole vault (44th, 5.22m/17-01.50).

• Sophomore Akaoma Odeluga leads the way for the Rebel women, her top performance being her SEC-leading and collegiate No. 2 shot put best of 18.37m/60-03.25 from the Rod McCravy Invitational. That mark currently sits her at No. 4 worldwide and No. 2 in the United States this indoor season.

• Odeluga already ranks third in Ole Miss history indoors at that career-best heave, and it made her one of three 60-footers indoors in Rebel women’s history alongside Olympian Raven Saunders (19.56m/64-02.25) and All-American Jalani Davis (18.61m/61-00.75).

• Her performance also moved her to No. 20 all-time in collegiate history, making Ole Miss the lone school with three entrants in the top-20 alongside Saunders (No. 2) and Davis (No. 12).

• Odeluga has improved in the weight throw in each of her three outings so far this indoor season, with her current best of 21.47m/70-05.25 ranking her 11th in the NCAA and second in the SEC. Odeluga has already improved 11 feet in the weight throw from her freshman PR of 18.25m/59-10.50.

• Sophomore Mensi Stiff, a Second-Team All-American last season, joins Odeluga in the national shot put rankings at No. 27 on her season-best toss of 16.59m/54-05.25 from the Vanderbilt Invitational.

• Fellow sophomore Skylar Soli owns a top-40 mark in the weight throw of her own, currently ranking 34th nationally and third in the SEC at her season-best 20.10m/65-11.50.

• Other Rebel women currently in the NCAA top-50 are: Samara McConnell in the pole vault (34th, 4.12m/130-06.25) and Dieusi Armand in the triple jump (50th, 12.57m/41-3).

The men’s golf duo of Collins Trolio and Davis Gochenouer travel to the Peach State this weekend to compete in the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate Feb. 1-2. Georgia Southern will host the ninth playing of the event with the GSU University Golf Course being the site.

TOURNAMENT LAYOUT: The 54-hole event will consist of 36 holes on Saturday followed by the final round of 18 holes on Sunday. A shotgun start will ensue both days beginning at 7:15 a.m. CT.

SNAPSHOT OF THE FALL: Davis Gochenouer competed as an individual in the team’s first victory of the season at the Hamptons Intercollegiate (Oct. 7-8). He carded a low round of 74 in the event and had 12 birdies across his three rounds at Maidstone Club. Collins Trolio competed as an individual in three of the four tournaments this fall. The sophomore set a new career-best finish at the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational with a T17 finish. Trolio was the star of day one in Biloxi for the Rebels, posting a round one score of (-1) 71, placing him in a tie for fourth after 18 holes. He carded four birdies during his round and was one of 13 players in the field to post red figures after day one.

ABOUT THE COURSE: The Georgia Southern University Course at University Park opened October 2013. The 167-acre lot is located six miles south of Georgia Southern’s main campus. The track plays 6,900 yards from the championship tees and includes an 8,000 square foot clubhouse. The course consists of two different types of grass with the tees and fairways being lined with Tifway 419 and the greens containing TifEagle.

Ole Miss’ women’s basketball team, fresh off a win over Georgia, heads to Vanderbilt Sunday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

The Rebels are 14-6 overall and 5-3 in the SEC. Vanderbilt is 18-4 overall and 5-3 in the SEC.