Report: Ole Miss guard Ilias Kamardine granted extra year of eligibility by NCAA
The NCAA has approved a waiver granting Ole Miss guard Ilias Kamardine an additional year of eligibility. The news comes via DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony on Friday morning.
Kamardine, who played professionally in France for four seasons before landing at Ole Miss for the 2025-26 collegiate season, was initially granted just one year of eligibility. Now, the 22-year-old has the option to return to Oxford for one more season under head coach Chris Beard.
In his first season of college basketball, Kamardine is averaging 11.3 points, 3.9 assists, and 3.3 rebounds. He just contributed one of his best performances of the season, scoring 26 points (T-season high) on 9-18 shooting in a 106-99 2OT loss to LSU on Wednesday.
Although Kamardine has been solid for the Rebels this season, it appears as if Ole Miss will miss the NCAA Tournament after making a run to the Sweet Sixteen (second time in program history) last season. After opening SEC play with a 3-2 record, it has lost 10 consecutive conference games. With three games remaining in the regular season, Ole Miss sits at 11-17 (3-12), tied for last in the SEC.
Ole Miss hauled in Ilias Kamardine from France last offseason
“It’s just such a small world now,” Beard said about Kamardine prior to the season. “You can literally know about a guy in Spain or Russia or France or Italy just like you know of somebody in Jackson, Mississippi. So I think just the access to the information. Basketball is a small world and, if you’re really good at it, there’s all sorts of connectors.
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“Certainly, on our staff, Brian Burg was the lead recruiter and everyone on our staff did a great job on these players. We were able to develop a relationship with Ilas and his family, his representation, his basketball family. So just excited that he trusts us with his next step in his basketball future.”
Kamardine was just the latest French player to make the leap to American basketball. Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 overall picks in the 2023 and 2024 NBA Draft, both played for French teams previously. Murray State also boasts a French native on its team in guard Roman Domon, who is averaging 13.8 points for the Racers this season.
If the season ended today, Ole Miss would be the No. 15 seed in the 2026 SEC Tournament. It would face No. 10 seed Georgia in a First Round matchup on Wednesday, March 11.