It Takes Two

After another pathetic first half showing by the Ole Miss baskeball team in which they scored only 14 points and were down by as much as 23 the Rebels rallied in the second to lose by 4 points on the road at Kentucky.

The Rebels were pretty cold on the offensive side for most of the first half, just as cold as they were when they left Baton Rouge last Saturday. Andy Kennedy must have had some hot words to say at half time to light a fire in the Rebs. As they came on a hot run in the second half. Midway through Kentucky picked their game back up and built another good lead over the Rebs. However the Rebels did not back down and rallied to cut the lead to two with a chance to win in the final seconds. The Rebels missed a layup to tie the game and a three pointer to win by Trevor Gaskins was long in a final attempt after the Warren missed layup.

All in all the Rebels did not play two halfs of basketball and in the end the first half was the reason they lost the game. I know it was a stretch to still have a chance to make it, but the Rebels had to have that one to impress the committee and to build up the confidence of the team. A win on the road at Rupp will fire up any team, but oh well.

Alabama comes to Oxford this weekend, they are coming off a big win against Arkansas, but they are a pretty weak team whom the Rebels should beat at home. I don't expect that much of a crowd at the game. More people will be in Oxford to watch the baseball game than basketball in my opinion.

(UMAA)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Ole Miss overcame a 17-point halftime deficit to pull within two late with a shot for the win with seven seconds left in the second half, but the comeback fell short as the Rebels dropped a seventh straight SEC road game 58-54 at Kentucky.
Chris Warren led Ole Miss with 25 points in the contest, including 23 in the second half.
Joe Crawford and Patrick Patterson scored 15 points apiece for Kentucky.
Ramel Bradley added 14 points and five rebounds for Kentucky (16-10, 10-3 Southeastern Conference), which moved to within one game of No. 1 Tennessee for first place in the SEC's Eastern Division. The Wildcats play at the Volunteers on Sunday.
Dwayne Curtis had 12 points and 15 rebounds, but the Rebels (18-9, 4-9) remained winless on the road in the SEC and continued their precipitous fall from the Top 25 last month. Ole Miss shot just 31 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 19 times.
Still, the Rebels had a chance to win it after whittling a 23-point deficit to two in the final seconds. Bradley missed a pair of free throws with the Wildcats up 56-54, and Warren raced up the floor. He missed a contested layup, but Curtis grabbed the rebound and threw it out to a wide-open Trevor Gaskins.
Gaskins' 3-pointer, however, was long. Kentucky's Perry Stevenson collected the rebound and handed it to Bradley, who sank two free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining to seal it.