No. 25 Ole Miss shakes off shooting struggles in 84-69 win over Colorado State

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — Jaylen Murray scored 16 points and No. 25 Mississippi beat Colorado State 84-69 Saturday evening in a neutral site game at the nearby Landers Center.

Mikeal Brown-Jones scored 14 points for the Rebels (4-0), while Malik Dia and Dre Davis added 11 points apiece.

Matthew Murrell, a three-year starter at shooting guard for the Rebels, hit a game-opening 3-point shot after missing the previous game with a back injury and scored 10 points.

Jalen Lake and Nique Clifford led Colorado State (3-1) with 21 and 18 points, respectively. The Rams trailed 45-26 at halftime but were within nine points in the second half by hitting nine 3-pointers, five by Lake.

Takeaways

Colorado State: Picked seventh in the preseason Mountain West Conference coaches poll, coach Niko Medved’s Rams could not climb out of the early hole despite solid performances from Lake and Clifford.

Ole Miss: The Rebels shot 28 of 55 (50.9%). After consecutive non-conference wins blemished by poor shooting, the unbeaten Rebels looked like an AP-ranked team, especially in the first half.

Key moment

Ole Miss built a 36-15 lead in the opening 13 minutes and shot 15 of 24 from the floor, including five 3-pointers from five players.

Key stat

The Rebels had 15 assists, only four turnovers and were 13 of 17 on layups to complement the perimeter shooting.

Up next

Colorado State returns home Friday night against UC Riverside, and Ole Miss hosts Oral Roberts Thursday night.