Ole Miss’ Leading Scorer Matthew Murrell Questionable to Play Against Kentucky

Kentucky is again on the highway for its fifth highway sport in SEC play, touring all the way down to Oxford, Miss. to tackle the scrambling Ole Miss Rebels. 

The fifth season of the Kermit Davis period down on The Grove hasn’t gone in keeping with plan, because the Rebels maintain a 9-12 file, together with a horrid 1-7 file in SEC video games, with the lone win coming in opposition to South Carolina. 

Ole Miss is tied for useless final within the convention, together with SC, LSU and Mississippi State. It is misplaced 9 of its final 10 video games and is at present ranked No. 114 within the NET. Of their eight SEC video games, the Rebels are averaging simply 63.75 points-per-game and have didn’t eclipse the 60-point mark in seven video games this season. 

One constant piece to Davis’ offense has been junior guard Matthew Murrell. Averaging a team-high 14.9 PPG, the Memphis, Tenn. native has scored 20 or extra factors six instances within the 2022-23 marketing campaign. Huge Blue Nation will bear in mind him nicely, as he made 9 pictures — 5 from behind the 3-point line — in Lexington a season in the past, scoring 25 in Ole Miss’ 83-72 loss again on March 1, 2022. 

Within the aforementioned win over the Gamecocks, Murrell splashed residence 5 3-pointers, ending with 23 factors, 9 rebounds and three assists. 

That win is the final full sport that the guard has performed, nonetheless. The next matchup in opposition to Arkansas on Jan. 21 noticed Murrell go down with a knee damage within the second half. He would then miss the Rebels’ subsequent two video games in opposition to Missouri and most lately at Oklahoma State within the Huge 12/SEC Problem over the weekend. 

Coach Davis says that Murrell — who additionally provides 3.5 RPG and a couple of.5 assists-per-game — is a game-time resolution to play on Tuesday night time in opposition to the Wildcats, per CBS’ Jon Rothstein: 

Murrell is not the one Insurgent that is questionable to play, both. Sophomore level guard Daeshun Ruffin did not make the journey to Stillwater to play in opposition to Oklahoma State resulting from a “coach’s resolution.” Davis went on to develop that Ruffin was “going via issues” and the staff “thought it could be higher for him to be at residence.” 

Ruffin is the staff’s second-leading scorer at 9.5 PPG, although he is seen motion in simply 11 video games this season. His 2021-22 season was ended resulting from a knee damage, which additionally stored him from making his 2022-23 season debut till Dec. 3. Towards Missouri on Jan. 24, he logged a season-high 18 factors and 7 assists. His 3.2 APG leads the Rebels. There was no official replace on his standing forward of Tuesday night time’s sport. 

Kentucky leads the all-time sequence in opposition to Ole Miss 109-14 and has received 12 of the final 13 matchups. The most recent loss for the Cats did are available Oxford on March 2, 2021. In reality, the final 4 instances that the Rebels have defeated UK have all taken place contained in the SJB Pavilion. 

Mixed, Murrell and Ruffin common 24.4 PPG, 5.7 APG and 4.6 RPG. It will be powerful sledding for the Rebels if neither guard is on the market to play in opposition to UK. 

Wildcats At present can have updates and sport protection as Kentucky appears to rebound from its loss at residence to Kansas over the weekend. Tipoff in Oxford is ready for 9 p.m. EST and can air on ESPN. 

Extra on how Kentucky stacks up with 5 weeks left within the common season HERE.

Extra on Kentucky’s loss to Kansas HERE.

Kentucky is leaving the KU loss with optimism. Extra HERE.

Every little thing John Calipari mentioned after the defeat might be discovered HERE.

WATCH: Tshiebwe, Reeves and Toppin speak KU defeat.

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