NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ole Miss' time at the Southeastern Conference Tournament was short lived. After a first-round bye, they faced off with Texas A&M and fell 80-71.
It was certainly a more solid performance from the Rebels compared to their 86-60 loss against the Aggies last Saturday to end the regular season.
The two teams went toe-to-toe in the first half with the biggest lead adding up to just six points for the Aggies.
But the second half was much more one-sided, with the Aggies jumping out to a 13-point lead with 4:52 left in the game.
The Rebels made a comeback, cutting the lead to just three with 2:16 remaining but the Aggies never let it get any closer.
Ole Miss (41.7%) actually shot better than Texas A&M (36.9%), but the Aggies were better off the bench (13-5), in the paint (36-26), second chance points (21-4) and points off turnovers (13-5).
Ole Miss' Jaemyn Brakefield led all scorers with 23 points and also picked up seven rebounds and five assists. Meanwhile, Allen Flanigan (17), Matthew Murrell (14) and Jaylen Murray (10) all scored in double digits for the Rebels.
Five Aggies scored more than 10 points: Wade Taylor IV (20), Tyrece Radford (18), Solomon Washington (13), Manny Obaseki (12) and Anderson Garcia (11).
The loss comes just one day after Chris Beard agreed to a new contract with the school. It also puts an end to one of the more successful seasons in recent history for Ole Miss.
The Rebels put all of college basketball on notice when they started the season 13-0, but that undefeated record quickly started to shift.
Ole Miss ended the season 20-12 overall, which marks their best record and first 20+ win season since 2018-19.
