HISTORY OLE MISS BASKETBALL HISTORICAL TIMELINE January 28, 1909 January 10, 1936 Ole Miss plays its first organized basketball game, but In the first game of the 1936 season, Ole Miss reached the celebration is cut short by a 12-11 loss to the is 200th win in the program's history with a 41-40 Memphis Physicians. Legend has it that Ole Miss led 7-6 squeaker over Memphis Coca-Cola. Forward George Clay at the half, but lost out in the second half when “with led the attack for Ole Miss with 13 points. the wind at their backs, the Physicians overcame our half-time lead for a narrow victory.” The game was May 5, 1938 reportedly played outdoors on a court located behind A 58-47 loss to Georgia Tech in the SEC Tournament the Lyceum on the Oxford campus. 1928 Southern Conference Tournament Champions Championship Game ends a nine-game overall SEC win TEAM OF DESTINY WINS IT - streak by the Rebels that started Feb. 5, 1938, with a February 17, 1909 GREAT RALLY TURNS TIDE 45-44 win over in-state rival Mississippi State. Ole Miss decides to save the best for last as the team records its first ever victory the last game of the season By Morgan Blake 1937-38 (originally published in the 1928 Ole Miss Yearbook) with a 28-11 win over Mississippi College. Ole Miss fin- Bonnie Graham leads the SEC in scoring with his 17.4 ishes the 1909 season 1-4. Ole Miss, the Team of Destiny, is champion of the South average, the first player to ever average more than 17 in basketball. A fighting clan that refused to surrender when a game in the SEC. In the conference tournament, he the clouds were blackest today is king of the great indoor 1922 scores 71 points and a single-game high of 27. Graham game. One year after the organization's formation, Ole Miss also becomes Ole Miss' first basketball All-America It was an amazing and courageous comeback that won joins the Southern Conference. the title for Ole Miss after Auburn had taken a twelve-point selection. lead in the second half and seemed as sure of winning as January 27, 1925 anything in this uncertain world can be. The score at one stage of the second half was, Auburn With a 35-17 victory over Centenary, Ole Miss collects 25, Ole Miss 13. The thousand or more Auburn students its 100th victory in the program's history. and alumni in the auditorium were in the seventh heaven of delight. They smelled the bacon frying and they knew the May 1, 1926 feast was for them. The Tigers had been outplaying their A 38-23 loss to North Carolina in the championship enemies all the way through and were marching on to glory and fame. Some of the spectators were yawning a bit. Many game of the Southern Conference Tournament ends a were a bit sorry for Ole Miss and hoped they would make win streak for Ole Miss, as the team rolled out a just a few more points so as not to be humiliated. 12-game overall and nine-game away/neutral win And then - Captain Robert M. Lee, the long, lanky streak. The 12-game streak, which started Jan. 16, leader of the Mississippians, rallied his clan for a final des- 1926, with a road victory over rival LSU, remained the perate drive. It was the last charge of the old guard. Up the slope they came, snarling, growling, fighting their way longest in school history until the 2007-08 squad put through all obstacles. The Tigers, surprised by the sudden together 13 straight wins. fury of a team that had been so docile, wavered before the charge. Doggedly they fought back, but the storm engulfed February 28, 1928 them. The Team of Destiny was on its way. Two points, two After rattling off victories over N.C. State, LSU and points, two points! With monotonous regularity Ole Miss was sinking them. Now they are just two points behind. Now they Kentucky, a 31-30 win over Auburn made Ole Miss are even. Now they are two points ahead. And it's a minute Southern Conference Tournament Champions. (see story and three-quarters to play. Captain Lee fouls, and Auburn inset) Coach Homer Hazel's Mississippians finished the shoots a free throw. Now it's Ole Miss, 31; Auburn, 30. 1928 season 10-9. The seconds were about gone. Down the floor comes Auburn with the last spring left in the Tiger. A desperate try for a goal that goes wild. The pistol cracks. The game is over. December 8-9, 1932 The Team of Destiny had won by one little point, which, At the annual Southern Conference meeting in Knoxville, A star left-handed pitcher, Joe Gibbon was on a baseball however, was as big as Stone Mountain so far as the effec- scholarship at Ole Miss and had to ask hoops coach Country Tenn., Ole Miss along with the other 12 schools west tiveness of it was concerned. Graham for permission to report for basketball. Lucky for and south of the Appalachian Mountains reorganized to The grim gods of fate who had given Auburn one-point the Rebels, Coach Graham agreed, and Gibbon put together a remarkable season in 1957 when he finished second in form the Southeastern Conference. Ten of those charter victories over Clemson and Georgia Tech in the early games of the tournament deserted the Tigers in the big crisis, and the nation in scoring with 30.1 points per game. The tal- members (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, ented athlete went on to enjoy a 13-year Major League smiled upon the opposition. The grim gods often do things LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Baseball career. like that. Vanderbilt) still remain as members of the SEC. 93 HISTORY February 26, 1945 February 21, 1966 Ole Miss achieves its 300th win in the last regular-sea- Ole Miss basketball gets a new home in the Rebel son game of the year with a 76-24 stomping of Coliseum, later to be named after then-Athletics Director Arkansas State. Three Rebels hit double-digit scoring C.M. “Tad” Smith. However, Kentucky spoils the inaugu- that night with M.C. McMullen collecting 20, Doug Krell ral game by defeating the Rebels 108-65. posting 13 and Bob McCain with 12. 1970-71 December 10, 1953 Forward Johnny Neumann earns All-America honors in A new record is set for the Rebels as the team reaches his first and only season as a Rebel, setting numerous the most points scored by Ole Miss in a single game school records along the way. with a 118-82 win over Union. Cob Jarvis leads the way with 37 points on 13 field goals and 11 free throws. December 7, 1974 Denver Brackeen follows close behind with 31 points. The program collects its 600th victory by defeating Texas in Oxford 82-74. Four Rebels scored in double January 17, 1955 digits with Bob Mahoney pacing the team with 21 points. With former Rebel B.L. “Country” Graham as head Herb Wright followed with 18 points while Dave Shepard coach, Ole Miss records its 400th win in program histo- had 15 and Walter Actwood 13. B.L. “Country” Graham, who was the first All-American bas- ketball player in school history, also stands as the second ry by beating Vanderbilt 77-63. all-time winningest coach in program annals with 144 wins 1978-79 from 1950-62. In the picture above, he runs through plays 1954-55 After leading the SEC in scoring with 26.3 points per with pupil and future Ole Miss head coach Cob Jarvis. While being chosen as UPI's SEC Player of the Year and game, forward John Stroud receives All-America honor- AP's SEC Most Valuable Player, center Denver Brackeen able mention plaudits. becomes the program's second player selected to All- America honors. His 27.2 scoring average leads the league. 1956-57 After becoming only the second player in SEC history to average more than 30 points, forward Joe Gibbon is named to multiple All-America teams. February 22, 1958 Coach Graham once again makes Ole Miss history as he collects his 100th win as head coach, making him the first Ole Miss coach to reach the century mark. The Rebels helped accomplish this with an 83-68 victory over Tulane. 1963-64 A star on the court and on the baseball diamond, guard Don Kessinger is named an All-American after setting 18 He played just one season before turning pro, but in 1970- Ole Miss basketball records. 71 Johnny Neumann put up numbers that may never again be reached by a Rebel, or any other Southeastern Conference January 30, 1965 player. Neumann led the nation with a 40.1 scoring average, After edging out Tulane with a 62-60 win in Oxford, Ole by far a school record and behind only Pete Maravich’s three Known among Rebel circles as “Mr. Clutch,” Carlos Clark legendary seasons in the league record books. Neumann still Miss reaches the 500-win mark for the program's histo- finished his impressive Ole Miss career having buried four owns five of the top six single-game scoring marks in school ry. Two Rebels had double-doubles with Fred Stanley game-winning shots at the buzzer, including a 15-footer on history. Despite also being an Academic All-American, he left collecting 21 points and 12 rebounds and Jim Robbins March 6, 1980, that gave Ole Miss its first postseason win, school after his sophomore season to join the Memphis Tams 76-74, over Grambling in the NIT Clark’s freshman season.