By Josh Ellis

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When UK hosted the Ole Miss Rebels in 2015, many Cats fans may have been on the edge of their seats with their hearts beating out of their chests as it took overtime for the undefeated Cats to survive a 25-point flurry from the Rebels’ Stefan Moody.

2016 was a bit of a different story as UK fans could sit comfortably in their seats – if they were still at their seats – and watch the clock wind to zero as the scoreboard read “UK 83, Ole Miss 61.”

There were numerous takeaways that left head coach John Calipari smiling after winning his 21^st straight SEC victory, all of which are required to win in the SEC. Ole Miss (10-3) seemed to be a solid matchup on paper and according to memory, but the Cats shot down any signs of a similar outcome to 2015’s matchup.

Here are some of the keys to victory UK showed against the Rebels and will need to continue to show to keep its SEC winning-streak alive.

Tyler Ulis dishing and distributing

Ulis scored a team-high 20 points while dishing a career-high 10 assists and snagging six steals in Saturday’s win over Ole Miss. He was efficient with his shots (going 8-of-13 from the floor) and was able to penetrate and kick to open teammates who knocked down shots.

Calipari knows that everything that UK does starts with Ulis, and that if his star point guard isn’t getting into a rhythm neither will the team. And with all the talk about Moody returning to Lexington, Ulis wanted to prove he was the best point guard on the floor.

“He also took on a challenge because everybody is talking about (Moody). And I knew he did it, I laughed. After the game I said, I know what you did and in front of the team he smiled. We need more guys that look at the other guy and say, ‘I’m going to show who is the better player here,’” Calipari said. “But I think Tyler, the way he’s playing, the way he’s defending, the way he’s scrambling for balls, he’s making us roll right now.”

A more confident Skal Labissiere

In his last three games before Saturday, the struggling freshman averaged 1.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 14.6 minutes. He hasn’t pulled down more than five rebounds since November. Labissiere needed some sort of confidence booster before entering the thick of SEC play, and he got one against Ole Miss.

“It’s a first step,” Calipari said after watching his 6-foot-11 forward score nine points in 14 minutes. “There’s still a lot of other stuff still there. But like, I want him to smile and have fun playing.”

Labissiere had an electric put-back jam midway through the first half that brought the Rupp crowd to its feet, and another dunk in the final minutes of the first to once again make Rupp roar. He finished shooting 4-of-7 from the floor, one of his best shooting performances this season.

“We were all happy for him,” senior Alex Poythress said. “He is working real hard in practice, just trying to get out of this little funk that he is in. When he makes a big play we are over there cheering him on. The crowd did a great job cheering him on too, which show that we’re all behind him.”

Jamal Murray spacing the floor

After dropping 18 points and hitting four three pointers, Murray kept the Ole Miss defense honest all night which created opportunities for others to get involved. It wasn’t his best outing from behind the arc on Saturday (4-of-12), but his 16.8 points per game average will continue to keep SEC foes spread on defense.

“I’m playing a lot off the ball. It’s not different. It’s just a different perspective,” Murray said. “I’m just getting used to it. I can play off the ball. Playing with a guy like Tyler is easier because he can find you. It takes time to settle in, but it’s just maturity, common sense, knowing where guys are going to be, and playing basketball.”

Maturity may be one thing Murray still needs to work on when it comes to shot selection, as Calipari continued to stress the importance of making the easy plays rather than the extremely difficult ones. But if Murray continues to score at a high level and improves his shot selection, the Cats will earn a lot more tallies in the win column.

Grabbing offensive rebounds

UK came into Saturday’s conference opener averaging 13.9 offensive rebounds per game. Against Ole Miss, UK grabbed 21 of its 33 misses. The Cats ended up out rebounding the Rebels 41-27 and earned 16 second chance points.

Controlling the glass and giving the team second opportunities on the offensive end is a sure way to keep a team in the game. And if the Cats continue to beat opponents to the boards, shooting lights out won’t have to become a priority.

“I’ve done this long enough to realize that action is a lot faster than reaction and (Saturday) it seemed as if we were constantly reacting to UK, never mind getting destroyed on the glass and making poor decisions with the ball,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “So we never really gave ourselves a chance based on our inability to make the plays that the game gave us early.”