The Ole Miss men’s basketball team is set to return home after a stretch of four consecutive road games, hosting Alabama at the SJB Pavilion on Wednesday, February 11 at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Ole Miss enters the matchup with an overall record of 11-12 and a 3-7 mark in Southeastern Conference play. Chris Beard, now in his third season as head coach at Ole Miss, has compiled a 55-35 record with the program and holds a career coaching record of 292-133 over 14 seasons.
Alabama arrives in Oxford with a 16-7 overall record and stands sixth in the current SEC standings with a conference record of 6-4. Nate Oats, leading Alabama for his seventh season, has achieved a win percentage near 70 percent and guided the Crimson Tide to five straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Under Oats’ leadership, Alabama reached the Final Four in 2024 and Elite Eight in 2025, also claiming two SEC regular season and tournament titles.
The teams have met regularly since their first contest in 1921. In their last meeting on January 14, 2025, No. 21 Ole Miss defeated No. 4 Alabama in Tuscaloosa by a score of 74-64. Malik Dia led Ole Miss with 23 points and 19 rebounds while Aden Holloway contributed 15 points for Alabama.
Alabama’s offense ranks among the top nationally: third in points per game (91.8), first in three-point attempts per game (35.6), second in made three-pointers per game (12.6), sixth in blocks per game (5.8), ninth in defensive rebounds per game (28.7), seventeenth in total rebounds per game (41.1), twenty-fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65), and twenty-eighth in free throws made per game (18.3). The team is led by Labaron Philon—who averages an SEC-leading 21.5 points per game—and Aden Holloway at 17.1 points per outing.
For Ole Miss, maintaining possession has been key this season; they have committed ten or fewer turnovers in fourteen out of twenty-three games played—including nine out of ten SEC contests—resulting in an average of just under ten turnovers per game, which ranks second-best within the conference during league play.
AJ Storr has played an important role off the bench for Ole Miss during recent victories against Missouri, Georgia, and Mississippi State—averaging more than eighteen points across his last eight games.
Freshman guard Patton Pinkins stood out during his SEC debut at Oklahoma by scoring twenty-five points on efficient shooting and making four three-pointers; he leads all qualifying freshmen guards playing significant minutes within the conference with only three turnovers this season.
Defensively, thirteen different Rebels players have recorded blocks this year—with James Scott leading that category—and as a team they average over four blocks each contest.
Head coach Chris Beard reached his fiftieth win with Ole Miss earlier this season following their victory over Southern Miss on December 13—a milestone achieved by only twelve other coaches at the school before him.
Recently announced signings for Ole Miss’s recruiting class include Jaron Saulsberry from Marietta, Georgia—a top-ten player statewide—and Yohance Connor from Charlotte, North Carolina—ranked among the best combo guards nationally for the class of 2026.
Fans can follow updates about Ole Miss men’s basketball through social media platforms including X (@OleMissMBB), Facebook (“Ole Miss Men’s Basketball”), and Instagram (@olemissmbb).
