No. 24 Ole Miss, loaded with veterans, opens season against LIU

Ole Miss returns four of its top five scorers from last season and adds five transfers who averaged double-figure scoring in 2023-24.

Experience and depth are primary reasons why Ole Miss is ranked No. 24 as it prepares to open the season against Long Island University on Monday in Oxford, Miss.

"We're an older team," second-year coach Chris Beard said. "They're not going to give us points on the scoreboard before the game starts just because we're older, but I believe there's a relationship between winning and experience."

The Rebels went from a 20-loss team two years ago to a 20-17 team that finished 7-11 in the Southeastern Conference in Beard's first season. They were picked No. 9 in the SEC preseason media poll this year.

Three senior guards will be key figures. Matthew Murrell averaged 16.2 points and made 39.8 percent of his 3-point attempts last season. Dre Davis averaged 15.0 points for Seton Hall last season, and Sean Pedulla averaged 12.1 points, 3.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 102 games during a three-year career at Virginia Tech.

"I tell the guys all the time, we'll have some special segments, some special moments, maybe some special games offensively," Beard said, "but our fate will be on the defensive end, no different than anybody else in college basketball."

Mississippi's depth is such that Beard enters the season unsure of his exact starting lineup or rotation.

"In my mind we have six starters," he said. "This is a great place to be. There will be a role for the (first) guy coming off (the bench). It's a really, really important job for us. We can play with guard play and we can play big, too.

"There are going to be opportunities for guys throughout the season. It's going to be hard to play guys rotational minutes every game just because of the depth of our roster. But this is something we talked about in recruiting as we set this team up."

LIU also is hopeful of getting a boost from the transfer portal. Senior wing Malachi Davis, a transfer from Arizona State, was selected to the preseason All-Northeast Conference team.

"The important thing is building the LIU brand," Davis told Slam Magazine. "We're trying to change the culture. We're trying to change the environment and bring the community together and do something real special this year."

Another notable newcomer is highly touted freshman shooting guard Jalen "Roc" Lee. The top returnees are sophomore forward Jason Steele and senior point guard Terell Strickland, son of third-year coach Rod Strickland. Terell started his career at James Madison but followed his father to LIU before last season.

The Sharks (7-22, 6-10 in 2023-24) were picked fifth in the NEC preseason poll.

"The realistic goal for us is to win," Steele said. "We have people who want to compete. Everyone here wants to work and everyone wants to win."

--Field Level Media