A day after Ole Miss fired fifth-year head basketball coach Kermit Davis, the Rebels ran roughshod through LSU’s porous defense in an 82-69 SEC win in Oxford Saturday.

Playing its first game under interim coach Win Case, the Rebels (11-18 overall, 3-13 SEC), scored its season-high in SEC play by shooting 62.1 percent from the field in the second half when LSU (13-16, 2-14 SEC) allowed Ole Miss to make 9 layups/dunks.

The Rebels had four players score in double figures, led by Jae Brakefield who scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

LSU’s entire offense was forward KJ Williams with 29 points and guard Adam Miller with 15.

Besides the Tigers’ inability to stop Ole Miss’ straight-line drives, LSU’s fatal infatuation with 3-point shooting hurt the Tigers. Half of the Tigers’ 54 field goal attempts were 3s and LSU made just seven (27.7 percent).

Meanwhile, especially in the final 20 minutes, Ole Miss’ offensive priority was driving to the basket. For the night, the Rebels outscored the Tigers 42-24 in points in the paint, 16-3 in fastbreak points and 16-4 off turnovers.

“We scored 43 points in the second half and that’s enough (to win) but we couldn’t get the stops we needed,” LSU head coach Matt McMahon said. “We were unable to guard them. We got whipped time and again off the dribble. They just bullied us on their drives to the basket.”

Ole Miss flipped a 7-point deficit into a 35-26 halftime lead in the final 8:48 of the first half.

The Tigers made just three field goals in the final 11:06, missing nine shots including six 3-pointers.

A 24-6 Ole Miss run in a 6½-minute span gave the Rebels their largest lead of the first half. Not only did Ole Miss finally warm from 3-point range hitting its last 5 of 7 3’s after opening 0 or 5, but the home team also was able to get to the basket hitting 8 of 12 layups/dunks.

That continued in the second half. When LSU cut the Rebels’ lead to four points with 18:34 left to play and five points with 16:08 and 13:16 remaining, Ole Miss responded with a layup, a dunk and a jump hook.

“There were a lot of times when we settled for 3’s when we could have slashed through the defense, drive to the basket, put more pressure on the rim (protection) and hopefully create more free throw opportunities,” McMahon said.

LSU closes its regular schedule in the upcoming week against teams that own wins over the Tigers this season.

Missouri, which beat LSU 87-77 on Feb. 1 in Columbia, closes LSU’s home schedule with a Wednesday 8 p.m. matchup. Then, McMahon’s team finishes the regular season Saturday with 5 p.m. meeting at Florida, which won 67-56 at LSU on Jan. 10.