Kentucky basketball struggles again before putting away short-handed Ole Miss Rebels
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Game day: Kentucky 75, Ole Miss 66
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Mississippi at Oxford, Miss.
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A short-handed opponent with a terrible league record. A mostly-empty arena to take the edge off a Southeastern Conference road game. The stage was set for Kentucky to run Mississippi off the basketball court Tuesday night.
For these Wildcats, it’s never quite that simple.
Kentucky ended up beating Ole Miss 75-66 in Oxford to earn its fifth consecutive victory in SEC play, but it was no easy win.
The Rebels — playing without their two leading scorers — missed their first two shots of the game before running off six straight makes to take a 15-8 lead over the Wildcats a little more than five minutes into the game. Kentucky answered that with a 10-0 run — thanks in large part to Antonio Reeves, who hit two threes off the bench during that span — but the Cats never pulled away early.
And Ole Miss gave them plenty of opportunities.
Immediately following those six consecutive made baskets, Ole Miss failed to connect on 13 of its next 14 attempts. Yet, when Amaree Abram hit a jumper to end that skid, Kentucky’s lead was only three points. The halftime score: Cats 32, Rebels 32.
Reeves continued to carry Kentucky after the break, scoring eight points in the first five minutes of the second half. He ended up with a season-high 27 points and went 6-for-7 from three-point range.
Kentucky never had a lead of more than seven points until Jacob Toppin threw down a dunk to give the Cats a 54-45 advantage with 9:15 left in the game. Oscar Tshiebwe followed that up with a steal and fast-break slam a few seconds later to give UK a double-digit lead, and the Wildcats handled things from there.
Tshiebwe delivered another double-double: 14 points and 11 rebounds. Toppin chipped in with 18 points and four assists. Sahvir Wheeler went just 2-for-8 from the field but dished out nine assists with only one turnover.
The game was played in an SJB Pavilion that featured more empty seats than filled ones, a looming ice storm in Oxford — as well as the Rebels’ subpar season thus far — keeping fans away. UK radio announcer Tom Leach estimated right before tipoff that only 2,000-3,000 fans had made it out to the 9,000-capacity venue.
Kentucky (15-7, 6-3 SEC) had some excuses, too. Starting point guard Cason Wallace was ruled out before the game with a knee injury. That put Wheeler back in the starting lineup, but he left the court late in the first half with an ankle injury. (He returned after halftime, though he didn’t appear to be at 100 percent.)
The result was more dysfunction in the halfcourt offense and some odd lineup combinations for the Cats — a couple of them featuring freshman Adou Thiero at the point and surrounded by players that hadn’t played as a collective group yet this season.
The Rebels (9-13, 1-8 SEC) have now lost 10 of their last 11 games, beating only South Carolina — the lowest-rated team in the conference — during that span. (The Gamecocks’ only SEC win came against UK in Rupp Arena on Jan. 10.)
Both teams were missing key players Tuesday night.
UK announced shortly before tipoff that Wallace would miss the game. Coach John Calipari said in his pregame radio interview with Tom Leach that Wallace suffered a knee contusion, adding that he practiced with the team Monday but “felt it” during shootaround Tuesday afternoon and wouldn’t be able to play against the Rebels. Before Tuesday night, Wallace was the only player on Kentucky’s team that had started all 21 games this season. He’ll be considered “day to day” moving forward.
The Rebels played without their two leading scorers.
Junior guard Matthew Murrell missed his third consecutive game with a right knee injury. Murrell, who leads Ole Miss with 14.9 points per game, left the Rebels’ loss to Arkansas on Jan. 21 and has not played since. He was considered a game-time decision before being ruled out of the matchup with Kentucky.
Ole Miss announced two hours before tipoff that sophomore point guard Daeshun Ruffin had stepped away from the program to focus on his health. Ruffin — a former McDonald’s All-American — is the team’s second-leading scorer with 9.5 points per game and tops the Rebels with 3.2 assists per game. He’s made only two starts and played in just 11 of Ole Miss’ 21 games, however, due to knee injuries.
“In hopes of regaining 100 percent mental and physical health, I’ve decided to step away from the team and take every action necessary to get well,” Ruffin said in a statement posted by Ole Miss before the game. “However, this is not me giving up on the game I love, but simply taking time to return to full health. I look forward to being back with my Ole Miss teammates in the future and giving them and you the very best version of me.
Ruffin did not travel with the team to Oklahoma State over the weekend.
“We love Daeshun,” Coach Kermit Davis said after that game. “He’s going through things and we thought it would be better for him to be at home. … We love him dearly, pulling for him. Coming back from a hard injury, he’s not the same. It’s some things that I know we’re going to work through. We’ll keep loving on him and will hopefully get him back on the court soon.”
Kentucky returns to Rupp Arena to host the Florida Gators (12-9, 5-3 SEC) on Saturday night.
This story was originally published January 31, 2023 at 11:16 PM.
