Ole Miss dropped a heartbreaker at home, 64-61, to South Carolina on Senior Day at the Pavilion.
The Rebels honored seniors Malik Dia, Max Smith, AJ Storr and Kezza Giffa prior to the game.
In the final seconds, South Carolina’s Meechie Johnson knocked down a three-pointer to break a 61-61 tie with Ole Miss and send the Pavilion into heartbreak.
“Defensive mistake,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “Felt like our choice was to pick up full court or pick up in a half court, and supposed to pick Meechie up in half court and be in a zone look. If Meechie drives to the basket, it’s going to be one versus three, and we didn’t pick him up at the correct point of pick up.”
Ole Miss (12-19, 4-14 SEC) was led on the floor by Dia with 22 points, while his teammate Storr was right on his heels with 13 points of his own.
South Carolina was paced in scoring by Johnson with 17 points, and his teammates Kobe Knox and Nordin Kapic each added 12 points to the stats line.
South Carolina jumped out to an 11-point advantage at the 11:13 mark of the first half over the Rebels with a score of 17-6.
At the 8:32 mark of the first half, Ole Miss went on an 8-0 run that cut South Carolina’s lead to 24-22 over two minutes of action.
“The one thing I can say bout our team, our guys keep fighting,” Beard said.
Ole Miss trailed the Gamecocks 34-28 at the half.
Ole Miss got its first lead of the game by a bucket by Dia at the 15:26 mark of the second half at 38-37 over South Carolina.
The Rebels were on a 12-2 run over 5:16 minutes to go up 40-39 over the Gamecocks. South Carolina regained the lead on a bucket by Knox.
South Carolina went on a 6-0 run to go up 45-40 before Ole Miss knocked in a two-pointer.
Eduardo Klafe made his first basket at the 10:37 mark of the second half with a three-pointer to make it a 46-45 game.
Ole Miss shot 1-for-14 from beyond the arc in the game for 7.1 percent and from the free throw line went 14-17 at 82.4 percent.
“A three-point shot was not our friend today,” Beard said. “We go 1-for-14 from three, and if we go 3-for-14 from three, it’s a different mood in our locker room now.”
The Gamecocks went 9-for-29 from downtown on the evening.
Ole Miss now heads to Nashville and will play on Wednesday against an opponent yet to be determined.
