Last season was not one anyone in Oxford will remember for Ole Miss men’s basketball and for good reason.
Finishing with a 15-20 overall record, the Rebels were unable to build off its run to the Sweet 16 in 2025 where it narrowly lost to Michigan State by three points. There was hope some new faces blended with some familiar ones would eventually gel together and make an impact in SEC play.
If there was a moment things clicked, it was in the SEC Tournament when the Rebels won three games in a row to advance to the semifinals against Arkansas. While the team lost in overtime, it was a great run for that week.
Now we turn the page to the 2026-2027 season where the roster is absolutely and completely blown up and rebuilt. You may remember Ilias Kamardine, Patton Pinkins and Zach Day from last year? That is all that returned to Oxford from last season’s roster.
We’ll take a deeper look at the newcomers, freshman, transfers, etc. later this month, but for now, the Rebels have finally released its complete schedule for the upcoming season. The non-conference has a wave like pattern of difficulty before going into the colder days of winter basketball in north Mississippi where fans huddle in the SJB Pavilion to catch SEC basketball fever.
So let’s break this schedule down into blocks of how the fanbase can expect the flow of the season to go. There are two exhibition games against Alabama (10/15) and UAB (10/27) in Birmingham, Ala. and Oxford respectively if you want to see this team live in games that don’t count.
First Four
- Nov. 2 – Alcorn State
- Nov. 6 – Central Arkansas
- Nov. 10 – Southeastern Louisiana
- Nov. 17 – Nicholls
These are the four games where head coach Chris Beard can really tinker with his lineups and figure out his starting five, first off the bench and what is working from the offseason. You have to go 4-0 period while also benefiting from four home games to open the season.
Maui Wow-ie
- Nov. 23 – Clemson
- Nov. 24 – BYU/Washington
- Nov. 25 – Arizona, Colorado St./Providence/VCU
Yes, the Rebels will be at the historic Maui Invitational for Thanksgiving week, so if you need a Christmas gift for the missus, book that trip to Hawaii and take some time for yourself watching some basketball. While this early season tournament doesn’t have the juice it used to, there are some good programs in this line-up that absolutely will be boosts to your NET ranking if you have a good week. Leaving with a 2-1 record would at least give some hope this team can compete in the SEC.
Dog Days of December
- Dec. 1 – at Virginia Tech
- Dec. 7 – William & Mary
- Dec. 12 – ULM (Southaven, Miss.)
- Dec. 15 – Youngstown St.
- Dec. 19 – NC State (Jackson, Miss.)
- Dec. 22 – Southern Miss (Biloxi, Miss.)
- Dec. 28 – Jackson St.
This seven game stretch is going to log some miles for this team, and its where I think some of that locker room chemistry will come together. After a trip to Hawaii, there’s the SEC/ACC Challenge in Virginia Tech, which is one of the less prominent ACC teams, but it will still be an absolute road test for the Rebels. Then its a tour around the state of Mississippi with varying levels of difficulty, but this still should be a slate of seven games where the program has to post more wins than losses. By the end of the 14-game non-conference schedule, anything 11 wins or better would be decent positioning for the conference schedule.
SEC Schedule
We won’t break down the entire thing right now, because there’s a lot left to be seen and know in the coming months. The short synopsis is this – Ole Miss plays Kentucky, Mississippi St., and Auburn twice this year making up one third of the conference slate, which is not great. None of these are likely going to be 2-0 opportunities for the Rebels meaning the SJB Pavilion is going to have to be the friendliest confines in America for Beard’s squad.
- Home games: Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, MSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Auburn
- Away games: Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, Missouri, LSU, Arkansas, South Carolina, Florida, MSU
If Beard and his staff have truly built a better roster, it still may not be enough to get to 20 wins this season based on the difficulty of the non-conference schedule and the competitiveness of this league. Ole Miss, again, will have to pile up 11+ non-conference wins to then turn around and win half its SEC games to get a good look going into March Madness. It’s going to be a long road, but with exhibition games tipping off in a couple weeks, we should get a better picture of what to expect this season.