Florida men’s basketball falters at Mississippi in 2nd half
By CHRIS BURROWS
Associated Press
OXFORD, Miss. — Jaemyn Brakefield scored 28 points, Jamarion Sharp added a school-record nine blocked shots and Mississippi dominated the second half to defeat Florida 103-85 on Wednesday night.
Brakefield was 11 of 16 from the field and the Rebels (14-1, 1-1 SEC) outscored Florida 21-10 in the opening seven minutes of the second half to build a 65-50 lead. The Gators (10-5, 0-2) never got closer than 13 points again.
Matthew Murrell scored 23 points, Allen Flanigan had 17 and Jaylen Murray added 12 in a balanced Ole Miss attack. The Rebels finished 39 of 66 (59%) from the field, including 8 of 20 (40%) from the 3-point line, led by Murrell with three 3s.
Walter Clayton Jr. and Zyon Pullin led Florida with 23 and 18 points. Florida was 31 of 75 from the field (41%) and 5 of 17 (29%) from 3.
“They definitely did a good job of pressuring us and taking us out of our stuff, but we knew that was coming,” Clayton said. “That’s how they play defense and we just weren’t able to run what we wanted to. On defense, they hit a lot of tough shots and got a lot of offensive rebounds.”
Ole Miss led 44-40 at halftime on the strength of a 16-2 run midway through the half, capped by consecutive 3s by Murray.
Big picture
Florida: After finishing 6-0 in December, Todd Golden’s squad is 0-2 in January with road games at No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Kentucky later this month. Aside from Clayton and Pullin, the Gators struggled to find offense.
Mississippi: An impressive bounce-back performance for Chris Beard’s squad after losing 90-64 atTenne ssee. Since 2018, the Rebels have won four consecutive games against Florida in Oxford. In the past six games, Brakefield is 45 of 66 (68%) from the field.
Up next
Florida: Will host Arkansas on Saturday.
Mississippi: Will host Vanderbilt to complete a two-game home stand on Saturday.