OXFORD ― Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard acknowledged his team's reality when he met with reporters on Wednesday.

Losers of seven of their last nine games, the Rebels now have one path to March Madness: Winning the SEC Tournament in Nashville next week.

They can make that task easier by staying out of the conference's bottom four and avoiding the first day of the tournament. With a win over Texas A&M (17-13, 8-9 SEC) on Saturday (1 p.m., CBS), the Rebels (20-10, 7-10) would secure their first-round bye.

Here's what to watch for.

One last Ole Miss home game for Matthew Murrell

Star Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell has another year of college eligibility if he wants to use it, but he said this week that Saturday's game at the SJB Pavilion will be his last.

His health will be something to monitor, too. He played just two minutes in Ole Miss' loss to Georgia on Tuesday while dealing with food poisoning.

"Nothing major," Murrell said.

Murrell is the highest-ranked signee in Ole Miss program history, and has scored 1,419 points in four years wearing a Rebels uniform.

This season has undoubtedly been his most effective. Playing within the best offense of his tenure, Murrell has transitioned from a volume scorer into an efficient star. He's averaged a career-high 16.5 points per game to go with a 47% shooting percentage ‒ up almost 11 percentage points from last year.

Texas A&M positioned to attack Ole Miss basketball's main weakness

When Ole Miss beat Texas A&M in College Station at the end of January, it did so by remaining competitive with the Aggies on the glass.

Texas A&M is the best offensive-rebounding team in college basketball. It nabbed 18 offensive boards against the Rebels, but Ole Miss managed 13 of its own.

That was a remarkable outcome for the Rebels, who are the second-worst defensive-rebounding team among college basketball's power conference programs.

If Ole Miss can repeat that feat, it should find itself with a chance to win.

BALLOONS: Ole Miss reported four minor NCAA violations since May. One involves balloons

Ole Miss' Allen Flanigan says hamstring is good to go

Allen Flanigan said Wednesday that he feels "fine" after a hamstring issue took him out of last Saturday's game against Missouri.

He played 33 minutes against Georgia, contributing 11 points. Nine of those came by way of the free-throw line ‒ Flanigan went 1-for-8 from the field.

The Rebels will need their second-leading scorer back at his best on both ends of the court against the Aggies.

He's been coming off the bench for the last three games due to what Beard has called an "internal" matter, but his minutes haven't changed much, aside from the injury.

Ole Miss basketball score prediction vs. Texas A&M

Texas A&M 75, Ole Miss 71: The Rebels survived what looked like a bad matchup for them on paper when these teams first met, but not much Ole Miss has done since indicates the act is repeatable. The Rebels haven't beaten a team not named Missouri ‒ which doesn't have an SEC win ‒ since Jan. 30.

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. Texas A&M