Connect with us

Basketball

Pinkins does it again as Ole Miss escapes Starkville late

Patton Pinkins delivered another late dagger as Ole Miss survived Starkville after Josh Hubbard’s final chances came up empty.

Published

8 months ago

on

Ole Miss Rebels guard Patton Pinkins during warmups before game with the Mississippi State Bulldogs

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Once is a moment. Twice in the same week becomes a habit, and Ole Miss is starting to look very comfortable living on the edge.

The Rebels didn’t need a long discussion about where the ball should go when Saturday night tightened in Starkville. Not after what happened earlier in the week.

Not after Patton Pinkins had already shown he’s willing to take responsibility when everything else fades out.

With 19 seconds left at Humphrey Coliseum, Pinkins rose and calmly knocked down the jumper that turned out to be the game-winner, lifting Ole Miss to a 68–67 win over Mississippi State.

It marked the second straight road game where Pinkins authored the final line, coming just days after he buried Georgia with a late shot away from home.

That’s not an accident. That’s trust turning into expectation.

Ole Miss didn’t overwhelm Mississippi State. The Rebels navigated a tight game possession by possession, knowing the margin would eventually shrink to something uncomfortable.

When it did, Ole Miss leaned into what had already worked this week — patience, spacing and one player willing to take the shot.

Pinkins didn’t rush the look. He didn’t force contact. He took what the defense allowed and made it count. The jumper didn’t need to be perfect. It just needed to fall.

Behind the late heroics, Ole Miss stayed afloat all night with steady production from its core.

Ilias Kamardine led the Rebels with 17 points, providing reliable offense when the game threatened to slip into long droughts. Malik Dia controlled the glass, finishing with a team-high 11 rebounds and anchoring possessions that mattered more as the clock drained.

Mississippi State countered with physical play and balance. Jayden Epps scored 14 points, while Sergej Macura matched Dia on the boards with 11 rebounds. The Bulldogs didn’t fade. They simply ran out of time.

When Pinkins’ jumper dropped, Ole Miss didn’t celebrate. There was too much left unfinished.

Mississippi State went where it always goes in those moments. Josh Hubbard had the ball, the confidence and the chance to flip the ending. First came the free throw. With 12 seconds left and Ole Miss clinging to a one-point lead, Hubbard stepped to the line.

It missed.

Ole Miss stayed composed. One miss doesn’t end anything in the SEC, especially not in Starkville, where momentum swings often come fast and loud.

The Bulldogs earned one more look. Hubbard attacked the rim as the buzzer approached, slipping through traffic for a layup that looked clean for a heartbeat.

Ole Miss defenders stayed vertical, stayed attached and stayed disciplined, forcing the finish to come through bodies rather than space.

The ball bounced on the rim. Then again. It rolled. It teased.

Everything but down.

The horn finally sounded, and the Rebels walked off with a win that looked eerily familiar — late shot, late defense, quiet exit. Just like Georgia earlier in the week, Ole Miss didn’t win with flash. It won by being steadier than the moment demanded.

Pinkins’ jumper will be remembered, and it should be. Two straight road game-winners in the SEC don’t happen by accident.

But this win lived just as much in the seconds that followed it. There was the missed free throw. Then a contested layup.

More importantly was a refusal to foul or scramble when the building leaned forward. That’s where Beard’s importance to defense paid off.

Ole Miss didn’t need a steal or a block. It needed to make the final two shots uncomfortable.

That’s exactly what happened.

Two road wins in one week don’t usually come with polish. They come with pressure-packed possessions, missed chances and shots that hang on the rim long enough to test nerves.

Ole Miss passed those tests by trusting the guy who is becoming a closer and trusting the defense to finish the job.

Starkville doesn’t let visitors leave relieved very often. Saturday night, the Rebels did — quietly, efficiently and without apology.

 

Related Topics:

Basketball

Ole Miss Basketball Appears in First Look at Expanded NCAA Tournament Field

Published

4 months ago

on

May 8, 2026

By

Ole Miss Men's Basketball during the game against Mississippi St. at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Mississippi on January 17, 2026. | Ole Miss Athletics

Most college sports fans saw Thursday’s news that the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are expanding to 76 teams. Eight additional teams will be added to what is currently the First Four, turning it into a 24‑team play‑in stage with 12 games across two days. The winners will join the 52 teams already slotted into the traditional first‑round bracket.

We already talked about what expansion means for both Ole Miss programs, and it’s still way too early to know which teams will actually benefit next season. But you know that won’t stop anyone from trying.

NCAA.com analyst Andy Katz posted his first 76‑team projection Friday morning, based on his initial Power 44 rankings for 2026‑27. Katz or his model must really like what Ole Miss has done this offseason. The Rebels show up at No. 39 in the Power 44 and land as a No. 10 seed in the South quadrant.

Again, it’s early. The last season ended a month ago. Ole Miss shouldn’t start booking hotel rooms in Pittsburgh just yet.

Still, this tells us two things about Ole Miss and the new tournament format.

First, it’s going to be hard for a middle‑of‑the‑pack SEC team to miss the field now. Second, if the bracket had been at 76 teams this past season, the committee would’ve had a real decision to make about the Rebels.

Maybe they get in. Maybe they don’t. Did they deserve a spot? Probably not, and adding eight more at‑large bids doesn’t change that much.

But the future looks better now for Ole Miss.

Andy Katz’s Initial Power 44

1. Duke

2. Florida

3. Michigan

4. Illinois

5. Tennessee

6. UConn

7. Arizona

8. Arkansas

9. Texas

10. Michigan State

11. Vanderbilt

12. Virginia

13. Kansas

14. Houston

15. Louisville

16. Alabama

17. Nebraska

18. Iowa State

19. Purdue

20. USC

21. Gonzaga

22. St. John’s

23. Miami (FL)

24. Indiana

25. Missouri

26. VCU

27. Saint Louis

28. UCLA

29. Ohio State

30. BYU

31. Iowa

32. Texas A&M

33. North Carolina

34. Providence

35. Baylor

36. Wisconsin

37. Auburn

38. Xavier

39. Ole Miss

40. Marquette

41. Texas Tech

42. Kentucky

43. Maryland

44. New Mexico

Continue Reading

Basketball

What NCAA Tournament Expansion Means for Ole Miss Basketball

Published

4 months ago

on

May 7, 2026

By

Ole Miss basketball players celebrate a SEC Tournament win against Alabama on Friday night. | Ole Miss Athletics

Missing the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments is about to get a lot harder.

Multiple outlets reported and the NCAA itself announced Thursday that the committees overseeing both tournaments have officially voted to expand the fields to 76 teams.

None of this should catch anyone off guard. The NCAA started exploring expansion about a year ago, and reports two weeks ago made it clear the process was in its final stages. Now it’s done. The new format will debut in 2027.

According to ESPN, top NCAA officials met with the tournament’s media partners to finalize the updated contracts before the vote. The committees required signed agreements before making anything official, and once those were in place, expansion moved forward.

The biggest change comes at the front end of the tournament. Eight additional teams will be added to what is currently the First Four. That round will grow into a 24‑team play‑in stage with 12 games spread across two days. The winners will join the 52 teams already slotted into the traditional first‑round bracket.

The NCAA is expected to rebrand the First Four language, but the structure stays familiar. The opening round will still include both automatic qualifiers and at‑large teams. All 16 seeds and half of the 15 seeds will make up half of the 24‑team group. The other half will come from the lowest‑seeded at‑large teams, including a mix of 11 and 12 seeds.

It’s a significant shift, but the goal is simple: more teams, more access, and fewer seasons ending on Selection Sunday with nothing to show for it.

What This Means for Ole Miss

On the women’s side, this doesn’t move the needle much. Yolett McPhee‑McCuin has raised the bar to the point where simply making the tournament isn’t the goal anymore.

Ole Miss wants to host a NCAA Regional for the first time in program history, and that standard doesn’t change with a bigger field.

The men’s side is a little different. It depends on the year. Two seasons ago, expansion wouldn’t have mattered. This past season, it would’ve changed everything.

Ole Miss finished 15-20 and sat at No. 80 in the NET. In a 76‑team bracket, that puts you on the bubble, and one more win in the SEC Tournament probably gets the Rebels into the field.

For programs in a league as deep as the SEC, the extra spots matter. The women’s side won’t feel much of a shift, but the men’s side absolutely will. Bubble teams in this conference won’t be living on the same razor’s edge anymore.

Continue Reading

Basketball

Ole Miss Basketball Transfer Portal Picture Comes Into Focus

Published

4 months ago

on

May 5, 2026

By

Ole Miss coach Chris Beard

It’s been two weeks since the transfer portal window closed, and after a slow start, Ole Miss is finally nearing the end of its roster‑building phase.

The Rebels have added seven transfers, plus TJ Clark who committed back in December. Four‑star recruits Jaron Saulsberry, Yohance Connor and Daniel Patton are also on the way this summer.

Those 10 newcomers will join Ilias Kamardine and Patton Pinkins, the only returning Rebels, to form the foundation of next year’s roster.

The question is whether that’s enough, and whether Chris Beard is actually done adding.

The honest answer is maybe and probably not.

Nobody knows yet if this group will be better or worse than what Ole Miss just put on the floor.

There’s no headline addition, but that doesn’t mean the roster can’t mesh, grow together and avoid needing a miracle run in March.

There’s also the chance it looks like last season, when the pieces never fully clicked.

Given the current guard‑heavy build, it feels likely Beard will look for more frontcourt help. Stefan Cicic gives Ole Miss a true 7‑footer and Santiago Trouet adds more size, but the Rebels could still use another proven interior presence.

One name to watch is former Florida Atlantic forward Devin Williams, who has reportedly met with Ole Miss over Zoom and is visiting Arizona this week. Williams finished fifth nationally in blocks last season at 2.58 per game, which would give Beard a real defensive anchor inside.

In the end, Ole Miss won’t know what this roster really is until the group gets on the floor together, but the picture is at least starting to take shape.

Beard has rebuilt almost the entire program for the second straight offseason, and there’s still room for one or two more pieces to round it out.

Whether this version ends up being better, worse, or simply different from last year’s team is impossible to know in May, but the next additions will tell us plenty about how the Rebels plan to finish the job.

Ole Miss Basketball Transfer Portal Tracker

Men

Outgoing

Incoming

  • Christian Brown, F, 6-8, Fr. (James Madison)
  • Stefan Cicic, C, 7-0, Fr. (Pepperdine)
  • Adam Clark, G, 5-10, Jr. (Seton Hall)
  • TJ Clark, G, 6-3 (Hermosillo)
  • Dasear Haskins, G, 6-8, So. (St. Joseph’s)
  • ND Okafor, F, 6-7, Jr. (Washington State)
  • Roman Siulepa, F, 6-6, Fr. (Pittsburgh)
  • Santiago Trouet, F, 6-10, Jr. (Arizona State)

Women

Outgoing

  • J’Adore Young, 6-4, C, Soph.
  • Sira Thinenou, 6-1, F, Soph.
  • Tianna Thompson, 5-10, G, Soph. (Baylor)

Incoming

Continue Reading

What Rebel Fans Reading

Copyright © 2017 Zox News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by WordPress.