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Ole Miss pulled off a special victory over Kentucky on Tuesday night in Lexington.
The Rebels made history in multiple ways in their 98-84 victory. First, according to Cole Cubelic, it was the first double-digit win for Ole Miss hoops in this series since 2001. That season was arguably the best in program history for Ole Miss, as it earned a No. 3 seed and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first (and only) time.
A significant reason why Ole Miss was able to win this game by such a margin was ball security. Kentucky played well offensively, but the Wildcats couldn’t get any stops on defense and, crucially, they only forced 1 turnover on the night. Ole Miss also had 24 assists, led by guard Jaylen Murray with 10.
Per Jared Berson, that’s the 4th-highest assist-to-turnover ration in a Division I game over the past 15 years:
There’s also this: Kentucky is the first SEC team to not force at least 2 turnovers in a game since 2010. That’s according to Radar360. Kentucky has struggled with forcing turnovers all season (352nd in forced turnover rate, per KenPom) but this represented a new low for the Wildcats.
Ole Miss will go on the road to face LSU on Saturday. Kentucky will look to bounce back with a win vs. South Carolina on Saturday.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
