KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Playing in their third consecutive game away from home, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team will take on No. 25 Tennessee on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT in the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center and broadcast on ESPN2.
TEAM FACTS
Ole Miss Rebels (Record: 11-10, 3-5 SEC)
Head Coach: Chris Beard • 3rd Season at Ole Miss (55-34) • 292-132 career record (14th Season)
No. 25 Tennessee Volunteers (Record: 15-6, 5-3 SEC)
Head Coach: Rick Barnes • 11th Season at Tennessee (247-115) • 851-429 career record (39th Season)
ON THE AIR
Television: ESPN2
Play-by-Play: Karl Ravech
Analyst: Jimmy Dykes
Reporter: Alyssa Lang
OLE MISS RADIO
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: Gary Darby
Analyst: Murphy Holloway
SERIES HISTORY VS. TENNESSEE
This will be the 126th game between Ole Miss and Tennessee, a series that dates back to 1924 when Ole Miss won a pair of games on back-to-back days. Overall, the Volunteers lead the series 79-46 and hold the advantage in Knoxville as well, 45-12. Tennessee has won eight of the last 10, with the Rebels claiming the most recent meeting in a 78-76 win on senior day at the SJB Pavilion last year.
LAST MEETING: March 5, 2025 (W, 78-76, Oxford, Miss.)
• Trailing by five at halftime, Ole Miss rallied behind an electric atmosphere in the SJB Pavilion and stormed back for a win over No. 4 Tennessee.
• Jaemyn Brakefield (Ole Miss): 19 points, 8-9 FG, two rebounds, two assists, 24 minutes.
• Jordan Gainey (Tennessee): 17 points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal.
SCOUTING THE VOLUNTEERS
Sitting in sixth place in the SEC standings, Tennessee holds a record of 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference play. During their non-con slate, the Vols earned notable wins over Rutgers, No. 2 Houston, and No. 11 Louisville. They’ve won three-straight entering this game with Ole Miss, at No. 17 Alabama, at Georgia, and most recently against Auburn. They currently rank No. 25 in the AP Poll and are receiving votes in the Coaches Poll, and hold the 21st spot in the NET Rankings and 18th in KenPom.
Ja’kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament pace the Volunteers offensively, averaging 18.6 and 16.6 points per game, respectively. One of the top recruits in the recent class and best freshmen in the nation, Ament leads the team in rebounds as well, averaging 6.4 per game.
Notable NCAA Team Statistical Rankings:
– Offensive rebounds per game, 15.7, 2nd
– Rebounds per game, 43.1, 4th
– Rebound margin, +12.8, 4th
– Three-point percentage defense, 29.4, 19th
– Field goal percentage defense, 39.9, 25th
– Assists per game, 17.5, 26th
– Free throw attempts per game, 24.9, 36th
– Defensive rebounds per game, 27.4, 36th
– Scoring margin, +12.4, 39th
Tied with John Calipari for the most wins among all active NCAA head coaches at 851, Rick Barnes is in his 39th season as a college coach and his 11th season with Tennessee. He’s guided the Vols to seven NCAA Tournaments during his tenure in Knoxville, including four Sweet 16 appearances and runs to the Elite Eight the past two years. Prior to joining Tennessee, Barnes spent 17 years at Texas, where he helped guide the Longhorns to 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by a Final Four run in 2003. He spent four seasons from 1994 to 1998 as the head coach at Clemson, after six years at Providence from 1988 to 1994. Barnes got his first head coaching job for the 1987-88 season at George Mason.
“SAFETY FIRST, THEN TEAMWORK”
In their 21 games this season, Ole Miss has had 10 or less turnovers in 12 contests, including seven of their eight SEC games. Their season average of 10.0 turnovers per game is the 34th-best mark in the nation and third in the conference, while their clip of 8.1 per game is the best in the SEC during conference play.
After finishing last year with an average of 9.0 turnovers per game and setting a new school record, their current average would rank second, just ahead of Chris Beard’s first season in Oxford (10.8), giving him the three-best marks in school history.
I THOUGHT I TOLD YA, I’M A STARR
A key component in the consecutive SEC wins over Missouri, No. 21 Georgia, and Mississippi State was senior guard AJ Storr. In a home game with Mizzou, Storr caught fire early, knocking down four three-point shots in the first half before finishing with a then season-best 26 points. He followed that up with a strong game on the road at No. 21 Georgia, scoring 18 points in the second half and overtime period combined to finish with a season-best 27 points and eight rebounds, adding three steals on defense. Storr helped Ole Miss come out on top of a battle in Starkville with 17 points before scoring a team-high 18 against Auburn.
Over the past six games, Storr is averaging 20.7 points, while his clip of 18.0 points per game during conference play ranks 11th in the SEC.
AS SWEET AS SUGAR
Heading into hostile territory against a ranked opponent, Ole Miss entered Stegeman Coliseum on January 14 to take on the No. 21 Georgia Bulldogs, a facility that had the longest active win streak in the SEC against unranked foes. Trailing by five at the half, the Rebels continued to scrap with the top-ranked scoring offense in all of college basketball, keeping pace behind 16 second-half points from AJ Storr and 14 from Travis Perry. Trailing by four with under a minute to play, Storr cut the deficit to two, 87-85 with 38 seconds remaining. Following a missed layup from the Bulldogs, Storr collected the rebound and drove the length of the floor for a bucket to force overtime.
With 18 seconds left in OT, Storr dropped in a quick layup off an inbound pass to go up 95-94. The home team would go 1-2 on the other end of the floor from the free throw line, before a missed floater from Storr was batted to Patton Pinkins, who tipped in the rebound as the clock hit zeros for a game-winning score. The 97 points from Ole Miss marked the most scored against a ranked opponent on the road in school history.
TIGER TAMER
Ole Miss picked up their first conference victory with a 76-69 victory over Missouri in the SJB Pavilion on January 10. The Rebels survived an early onslaught of threes from the Tigers, overcoming a 10-point deficit in the first half to eventually win by seven. Coming off the bench, AJ Storr played 33 minutes and scored a game-high 26 points while grabbing five rebounds with zero turnovers. Ole Miss got another elite performance from forward Malik Dia, who recorded yet another double-double with 21 points and 11 boards, adding a steal and three blocks on the defensive end.
MALIK DIA-DIA
Entering this season with four career double-doubles, senior forward Malik Dia has matched that total number this year, hitting the milestone against St. John’s, NC State, Alcorn State, and Missouri.
THA BLOCK IS HOT
A strong defense has been a staple for Ole Miss under head coach Chris Beard, and this year’s team has used their length and athleticism to average 4.5 blocks per game, the 54th-best mark in the nation. Thirteen different players have recorded a block paced by James Scott’s 25, 21 from Malik Dia, and 19 from Corey Chest.
PATTON PINKINS PHRESHMAN PHENOM
In the team’s SEC opener at Oklahoma, freshman guard Patton Pinkins scored a career-best 25 points on an impressive 9-11 (.818) shooting while draining four three pointers. His game-high 25 points were the most for a freshman at Ole Miss since November 2022, when Amaree Abram score 26 against Stanford. Pinkins has also hit game-winning shots in an overtime win at No. 21 Georgia, and in hostile territory at Mississippi State this season.
NON-CONFERENCE CLOSER
In their final game before SEC action, Ole Miss hosted Alcorn State on December 29, picking up a dominating 79-43 victory. Their success stemmed from impressive rebounding, posting a margin of +25 for the first time since 2008, led by Malik Dia and James Scott with 11 rebounds, and Corey Chest with 10. It had been nearly a decade since the Rebels had a trio of players with 10+ boards in a single game.
Paired with their 11 rebounds, both Dia and Scott posted double-doubles as well, marking the first time Ole Miss had two double-doubles in a single game since 2021. For Dia, that was his third double-double of the season, all of which occurred in a five-game stretch, and second in a row. He became the latest Ole Miss player to record double-doubles in back-to-back games since Sebastian Saiz in 2017. After beginning the season with an average of 4.8 rebounds per contest over the first six games of the season, Dia averaged 9.0 per game over the final seven in non-conference action.
50 VICTORIES
With an Ole Miss win over Southern Miss on Saturday, December 13, head coach Chris Beard picked up his 50th win at the helm in Oxford. He became the 13th coach to win 50 games at Ole Miss, the fifth coach to reach that mark in their third season, and the third-fastest to 50 in school history.
“WHEN IT’S TIME TO EAT A MEAL, I ROB AND STEAL”
In a heated road battle in Madison Square Garden with St. John’s, Kezza Giffa played a key part in the Ole Miss second-half comeback attempt. On the floor for 17 of the final 20 minutes of action, Giffa helped keep one of the nation’s best offenses at bay, collecting six steals to bring his game total to seven. He became one of 11 Rebels all-time to grab seven or more steals in a game, tying him for the fifth-most in school history. It was the most steals for an Ole Miss player in a single game since Matthew Murrell had seven as well against Grambling State on November 8, 2024.
KEEP THE FUTURE BRIGHT
The Ole Miss men’s basketball program recently welcomed two signees to their 2026 recruiting class, adding small forward Jaron Saulsberry and combo guard Yohance Connor.
Saulsberry will come to Oxford from Marietta, Georgia and Wheeler High School, and is ranked as a top-10 player in his home state by both ESPN and 247Sports. A 6’6″ four-star recruit, he is ranked as the No. 28 small forward in the class of 2026.
Hailing from Charlotte, N.C., Connor ranks among the best in his state, tabbed the No. 3 player in North Carolina by 247Sports and No. 5 by Rivals. He is listed as a four-star recruit by ESPN and 247Sports, and ranked as the No. 5 combo guard in the class of 2026 by Rivals.