No. 25 Ole Miss looks to limit turnovers again in encounter vs. LSU

If you’re searching for one reason why Ole Miss is ranked 25th in the nation and LSU is next-to-last in the Southeastern Conference, look at the one thing the Rebels don’t do.Entering the teams’ Saturday night matchup in Baton Rouge, La., Ole Miss is tied with Marquette in Division I for the fewest turnovers per game at 8.9.In a 98-84 home victory over No. 14 Kentucky on Tuesday night, the Rebels took avoiding mistakes to a new level by posting an almost-unheard-of 24-1 assist-turnover effort.”Just one loose ball-handling play away from doing something that I’ve chased in my career,” Rebels coach Chris Beard said. “It’s not about me. I’ve just thought it would always be cool to coach a team that had zero turnovers in a game.”The one miscue, for the record, came from Sean Pedulla with 14:46 left. But since he is the team’s leading scorer at 14.9 points a game and supplemented a below-par eight-point outing with eight assists, he presumably was forgiven.An almost-clean game in that department led to an acknowledgment from Beard.”I told the players after the game that I don’t know if I’ve enjoyed watching a team play more than I did tonight watching us play,” he said. “In the first half, especially.”Matthew Murrell, a fifth-year senior whose scoring average has dropped from 16.2 ppg last season to 11.8 this year as he battles lower-body injuries, found the best version of himself Tuesday night. He sank 6 of 11 3-pointers and scored a team-high 24 points.Jaylen Murray, who averages 11.1 ppg and a team-high 4 assists, chipped in a 15-point, 10-assist double-double as Ole Miss (17-6, 6-4) shot 54.7 percent from the field and canned 13 of 30 3-pointers.