BYU Basketball Set To Face No. 23 Ole Miss On Thanksgiving

BYU basketball takes on its toughest test to date when they square off against No. 23 Ole Miss on Thanksgiving Day in the Rady Children’s Invitational.

The 5-0 Cougars arrived in San Diego on Tuesday and were greeted by a mariachi band. Thursday will be BYU’s first game, followed by a Black Friday matchup against NC State or No. 13 Purdue.

“We traveled pretty deep with a lot of the families. My wife and kids are here. A lot of the staff members have families as well,” Young said.

While coaches’ families enjoy places like SeaWorld, Young set the message to his team as they prepare to play their first game away from Provo this season.

“This is a business trip. Like, don’t get confused. This is a business trip, and that’s what we’re here to do. Which is take care of business.”

Ole Miss enters the game with a 5-0 record as well. Similar to BYU, the Rebels have faced a light non-conference schedule. Ole Miss’ SOS is at 336, while BYU has faced the second-easiest out-of-conference schedule in the country to this point.

It’s the second meeting all-time between BYU and Ole Miss. The first meeting was in the First Four of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. BYU had a 17-point halftime lead before Ole Miss stormed back with a highlight reel of slam dunks en route to the 94-90 victory.

BYU vs. Ole Miss: How To Watch, Listen

Rady Children’s Invitational

Date: Thursday, November 28, 2024

Location: LionTree Arena (San Diego, California)

Tip-Off: 3:30 p.m. (MST)

TV: FS1

Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM)

First game away from the Marriott Center under head coach Kevin Young

BYU opened the season with a five-game homestand. Thanksgiving day will be the first time BYU plays a game away from the Marriott Center under first-year head coach Kevin Young.

“We’ve had a good run at home playing against teams that we took care of business against. Now, we’re looking forward to taking this show on the road. This is a great tournament here in San Diego, a beautiful city. Really looking forward to competing against some of these bigger teams.”

Young is confident that what he saw in the five home games will travel on the road.

“I just think our identity, how we want to play. I think our togetherness and our unselfishness really showed its head offensively for us. I think defensively, we’ve made strides in different points of emphasis and now have to do it against guys who can test us a little more on that end. It will be a good thing for us.”

Personnel Notes

BYU was without center Keba Keita in the win over Mississippi Valley State this past Saturday. The former Utah transfer suffered an ankle injury against Idaho on November 16.

“Keba’s progressing well,” Young said. “We’ll see how he feels after what we do today. But everybody else is feeling good.”

Entering the Ole Miss matchup, Keita is listed in BYU’s game notes under “Probable Starters,” along with Egor Demin, Dallin Hall, Kanon Catchings, and Richie Saunders.

BYU got point guard Dallin Hall back into the lineup last week after dealing with a toe injury that caused him to miss the season’s first four games.

“I think you saw him the first play of the game that he was back in there. We ran a play, it broke down, and he ends up getting a drive and kick three for Kanon. So I think having multiple guys that can drive and kick and make quality decisions with him and Egor out there together. I thought that really showed right out of the gate.”

Hall finished with 10 points, five assists, four rebounds, and one steal in his season debut last Saturday.

Getting to know the Ole Miss Rebels

The media picked Ole Miss to finish ninth in a loaded SEC this season. The Rebels’ starting five includes four players who have scored 1,000 points or more in their careers.

Chris Beard, the former Texas Tech and Texas head coach leads Ole Miss into his second season in the program.

Along with scoring, the Rebs are taking care of possessions, ranking sixth nationally in Assist/Turnover ratio at 2.05 per game.

The leading scorer for Ole Miss through five games is former Virginia Tech transfer Sean Pedulla.

“They’ve got seven or eight 1,000-point scorers on their team. So they clearly went out and got a bunch of guys who know how to score,” said Kevin Young. “So we’ll have our hands full with a bunch of different players, and we’ll have to be really good defensively.

“From our offense, they’re really aggressive trapping a lot of things down, in and around the paint. So I think our spacing will be very important. But I think we’ve had a good week of preparation and we were able to dive into these guys quite a bit. So I think we know what to expect.”

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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