Ole Miss could not follow up Saturday’s win at Auburn with another victory. Instead, the Rebels fell to Vanderbilt 89-86 in the SJB Pavilion on Tuesday night.
A game underscored by oddly timed coach’s challenges found the Commodores (23-7, 10-7 SEC) building their March Madness rérsumé and momentum ahead of the upcoming conference tournament, while the Rebels (12-18, 4-13 SEC) will soon end a regular season that has proven disastrous down the stretch.
Tyler Tanner’s 34-point performance led the way for Vanderbilt. The sophomore was 58% from the field and hit 9 of 12 free shots, adding seven assists and five rebounds to his stat sheet. AK Okereke and Duke Miles scored 16 points apiece for the Commodores. Devin McGlockton had a game-best 14 rebounds.
Freshman guard Patton Pinkins led Ole Miss in scoring with 16 points. AJ Storr and Ilias Kamardine were close runners-up, each logging 14 points. Corey Chest had 11 rebounds. Malik Dia’s 11-point night was cut short when he fouled out late in the second half following a challenge by Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington.
Dia, at the 48-second mark of the second half, hooked Okereke’s after the Vanderbilt forward poked the ball away from him. The foul was not called until Byington had officials look at it again with 26 seconds on the clock. At that point, Dia had been sent to the charity stripe after being bumped down low.
The Ole Miss big man was able to attempt his two free shots, sinking both, due to the scoring table not being notified that he had fouled out. After completing the shots, he departed the game, and Okereke went to the foul line, making both of his shots. With Dia’s foul being ruled a flagrant one, the Commodores had the last possession of regulation. Miles missed a driving layup to send the game to overtime.
Ole Miss was instantly behind the 8-ball in overtime, as a Kamardine turnover gifted Tanner a three-point play. Vanderbilt took a five-point lead at the 3:02 mark, courtesy of another three-point play by Tanner. A pair of free throws by Storr and a second-chance dunk by Chest cut the Rebels’ deficit to one point with 2:16 on the clock. The Commodores quickly countered with a triple by Tyler Nickel.
The Rebels chipped away once again but to no avail. Kamardine found himself at the free-throw line with a chance to tie things up. Before the French guard took a free shot, Ole Miss frontman Chris Beard had unsuccessfully lobbied officials to call a flagrant one against Vanderbilt on a prior play. At the stripe, Kamardine was one of two, forcing the Rebels to play the foul game.
None other than Tanner was the Commodore sent to the charity stripe with 16 seconds remaining in overtime. He connected on both shots. Ole Miss, in its final offensive possession, turned the ball over without a chance to knot things up.
Turnovers were an Achilles heel for the home Rebels, who led for an overwhelming majority of the midweek contest. Ole Miss, a team that averages fewer than 10 turnovers per game, coughed the ball up 17 times, leading to 29 points for Vanderbilt.
The red and blue were also dominated on the offensive glass, losing the offensive rebounding battle 22-10. Ole Miss benefitted from three-point shooting, connecting at a 44% clip compared to its foe’s 28% make rate from deep.
Next up for Ole Miss is the regular-season finale. The Rebels will take on South Carolina at home on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT. The SEC Network and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations will air the matchup.
