BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Ole Miss men’s basketball will travel to Oklahoma State for the first time in program history as part of the 10th annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 28, 2023, the conferences announced on Thursday.

The Rebels and Cowboys have met thrice before – all at neutral sites – with their most recent meeting coming at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Nov. 29, 2019 as part of the NIT Tipoff Championship.

This is the eighth total appearance for Ole Miss in the Challenge since it began in 2012-13, with the Rebels most recently capturing their first win in the series with a 67-56 victory over Kansas State at home this past January 29. In that game, star freshman Daeshun Ruffin led the way with a superb second-half effort, scoring 13 of his 17 total points in the back half in addition to a career-high seven rebounds to help the Rebels win the rebounding battle, 43-33. The Ole Miss defense piled on, holding K-State to just 30.2 percent shooting overall and 30.6 percent from three. For his efforts in three games that week, Ruffin was named the first Ole Miss SEC Freshman of the Week since the 2011-12 season.

All 10 of the Big 12’s teams and 10 of the SEC’s 14 member institutions will participate in this year’s event. Each of the 10 SEC teams that participated in the 2022 Challenge will be part of the 2023 event. The SEC won the ninth annual Big 12/SEC Challenge by winning six of the 10 games on Jan. 29, 2022. It was the second year in a row that the SEC won the Challenge. The SEC has lost the Challenge just one time in the last six years.

This will be the eighth year that a bye in the league schedule for participating teams was created to accommodate the single-day format. The first two years of the Challenge were played over several days in November and December, but the last eight events have been consolidated to one single day in January.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise the contests. Start times and network designations will be announced at a later date.

Ole Miss All-Time Series vs. Oklahoma State (0-3)

Jan. 15, 1948 – L, 52-34 – Neutral site (Memphis, Tenn.)

Dec. 28, 1953 – L, 59-42 – Neutral site (Oklahoma City, Okla.)

Nov. 29, 2019 – L, 78-37 – Neutral site (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Ole Miss in SEC/Big 12 Challenge, All-Time (1-6)

Dec. 5, 2013 – at Kansas State – L, 61-58
Dec. 4, 2014 – vs. TCU – L, 66-54
Jan. 30, 2016 – vs. Kansas State – L, 69-64
Jan. 28, 2017 – vs. #5 Baylor – L, 78-75
Jan. 27, 2018 – at Texas – L, 85-72
Jan. 26, 2019 – vs. #24 Iowa State – L, 87-73

Jan. 29, 2022 – vs. Kansas State – W, 67-56