Ole Miss and Missouri battle for SEC basketball bottom four supremacy

I have little to no idea why this game is tipping off at 7:30 unless it is to give all the fans a chance to be moderately inebriated at the beginning and possibly passed out by the buzzer.

Ole Miss (12-12, 3-8 SEC) travels up to CoMo to play Missouri (9-14, 3-7 SEC) in what is actually a pretty important game for both teams as they try to get out of the dreaded bottom four of the SEC. Teams ranked 11th through 14th in the SEC have to play an additional game in the SEC Tournament and makes it that much more difficult for a Cinderella run to the championship.

These teams are on paper pretty evenly matched with the Rebels sitting at 107 in the NET rankings and Mizzou at 143. The Rebels are 1-4 in true road games while the Tigers have posted only a 5-5 record at home.

The last time these teams played though... well, it was a steamrolling. Ole Miss was coming off a decent performance against a very good Auburn team, and with a struggling Mizzou coming into SJB Pavilion, it seemed like a chance for the Rebels to bounce back into the SEC race. Then, somehow, someway, Mizzou won 78-53 - mostly because it shot 62 percent from the field and 57 percent from three point range compared to 34 percent and 27 percent for the red and blue.

Ole Miss will probably play a motivated game and win, but honestly who knows? This team has battled injuries, inconsistent play, and the SEC is unpredictable yet again.

Odds

Line: Alabama -1.5
Over/Under: 129.5

How to watch

Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Mo.
When: 7:30pm CDT
TV: SEC Network
Online streaming: WatchESPN