South Carolina Gamecocks at Ole Miss Rebels

Mississippi tops South Carolina 65-49

It's taken Mississippi's top two guards a little while to get used to playing with each other.

Now that they have, the Rebels are showing they can be a threat in the Southeastern Conference.

Summers scored 20 points and Moody added 16 as Mississippi beat South Carolina 65-49 on Saturday at Tad Smith Coliseum.

"It's a process," Moody said. "You can't just throw a bunch of different guys together and expect it to mesh automatically. It takes a little while and I think we're starting to figure it out."

The 5-foot-10 Moody scored all of his points, including three 3-pointers, in the second half to lead the Rebels to the relatively easy victory. Moody is a junior college transfer who leads the team with nearly 15 points per game.

Sebastian Saiz added 10 points and five rebounds.

Ole Miss (10-5, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) never trailed, though South Carolina tied the game at 33 early in the second half. The Rebels responded with five straight points and the Gamecocks never seriously threatened again.

"It's not a physical thing, it's a mental thing," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "We tried to kind of dig into our bag, but our enthusiasm, our discipline has been so bad."

South Carolina shot just 4 of 20 (20 percent) from 3-point range.

Ole Miss led the entire first half, pushing their advantage to 28-16 on a Saiz dunk before the Rebels settled for a 33-27 lead at halftime.

South Carolina made three straight baskets to tie the game early in the second half, but Ole Miss responded with a 17-7 run to jump back into control with a 50-40 advantage.

Summers finished just 5 of 14 from the field, but made 2 of 3 from 3-point range and 8 of 9 free throws.

"We had some huge 3s down the stretch that put it away," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said.

Ole Miss lost its SEC opener earlier in the week, but had good reason to come into the game with confidence. The Rebels played No. 1 Kentucky tough on the road before falling 89-86 in overtime.

TIP-INS

During the 23-minute power outage, the Ole Miss Athletic Foundation sent out a tweet that joked about the "annual `Lights Out" game on campus. It also solicited donations for the new arena on campus. ... South Carolina has won just once in 13 tries in Oxford. That was an 80-77 victory back in 2008. ... Kennedy and Martin are longtime friends dating back to their time as assistant coaches under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. ... Ole Miss leads the nation in free throw percentage coming into the game, hitting at a 78.9 percent rate. The Rebels were good again on Saturday, making 18 of 22 (81.8 percent). ... Kennedy's oldest daughter Meagan sang the National Anthem before the game. The Rebels are 2-0 when she sings the anthem.

UP NEXT

Ole Miss hosts LSU on Wednesday.

South Carolina hosts Alabama on Tuesday.

How can I watch South Carolina vs. Ole Miss?

• TV Channel: South Carolina at Ole Miss 2021 College Basketball, week 9, is broadcasted on FOXNET.
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