OXFORD — Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard said on Thursday that his day-to-day routine with the Rebels is so process-based that he wouldn't even know his team had lost three games in a row heading into a meeting with Missouri.

But the bracketologists have certainly noticed.

Ole Miss (18-6, 5-6 SEC) ranked among the last four teams in the March Madness field on Friday morning, according to ESPN expert Joe Lunardi.

A fourth consecutive loss to last-place Missouri (8-16, 0-11) on Saturday (7:30 p.m., SEC Network) would be a damaging blow to the Rebels' tournament hopes.

Rebels looking for more from Jaylen Murray

Ole Miss point guard Jaylen Murray had been averaging 15 points before the Rebels embarked on their three-game slide.

He's been held to 20 points total over those three losses, shooting 8-for-31 from the field. He's connected on just one of his last 13 3-point attempts, too. The 3-point-happy Rebels shot 5-for-22 from beyond the arc in their most recent loss at Kentucky.

Ole Miss needs the best version of its star point guard back.

Beard said that starts on the defensive end of the floor.

"When he has a defensive focus, guarding the ball, initiating our defense off the ball, his offense kind of feeds off of that," Beard said. "... A lot of confidence in Juju, he's had a good season. Like most players, we need his consistent A-game each night."

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Struggling Missouri offense presents Ole Miss basketball with an opportunity

The free-scoring Tigers of 2022-23 are long gone, and Missouri has regressed into one of the worst teams in the SEC on both ends of the court after using great offense to mask lousy defense in Dennis Gates' first season.

Only Vanderbilt has scored fewer points than Missouri on a per-game basis, with the Tigers averaging 72 points.

Scoring has been particularly difficult in conference play. Mizzou has failed to crack 70 points in six of its last seven games, and nine of its 11 SEC games overall.

Ole Miss is 11-1 when it holds opponents to 70 points or fewer, with the only exception coming in a loss at South Carolina last week – the slowest-paced game the Rebels have played all season.

Beard has been unable to instill his usual brand of defensive excellence in these Rebels, but Ole Miss did have one of its better showings when it held an explosive Kentucky team to 1.04 points per possession.

The Tigers present the Rebels with a chance to sustain that momentum.

Sean East is Missouri's primary scoring threat. Will he play?

Like Ole Miss, Missouri gets the majority of its scoring from its guards.

Three of them average double figures, led by veteran Sean East, who has been both prolific and efficient in his senior season, posting 15.6 points on 51.6% from the field.

East did not play in the Tigers' most recent losses to Mississippi State and Texas A&M with what is being reported as a knee contusion.

"We won’t know until we got about three more situations: today’s practice, tomorrow’s practice and then shootaround on gameday to manage that and see how his body responds," Gates told reporters on Thursday. "If his body doesn’t respond well and there’s swelling after the increased workload, then we know what time it is and what we need to do and not do."

Ole Miss basketball score prediction vs. Missouri

Ole Miss 78, Mizzou 68. The Rebels have been great at home all season, and there's nothing about this struggling Tigers team that looks like a threat to that record.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss basketball score prediction vs Mizzou in SEC game