OXFORD, Miss. (AP) Matthew Murrell made five 3-pointers and finished with 20 points to lead Mississippi to a 73-58 victory over Alcorn State on Monday night in a season opener.

Murrell was 7-of-18 shooting from the floor and added six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Robert Allen added 15 points and freshman TJ Caldwell had 10 for Ole Miss, which opened the season with four freshmen and four senior transfers.

Byron Joshua scored 15 points for Alcorn State. Keondre Montgomery added 14 points and Dominic Brewton had 12.

Joshua scored 13 points in the first half to help Alcorn State stay within 28-27 at halftime. Murrell opened the second half converting a three-point play, and Caldwell added a 3 to push the Ole Miss lead to 34-27. The Rebels later pulled away with 10-2 surge, capped by Murrell's 3, to make it 58-43 with 7:39 remaining and led by double digits for nearly the rest of the way.

Ole Miss has won all five games in the series including the last meeting in 2010 and is 42-0 against members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

---

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Copyright 2024 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.