After Wednesday night’s 18 point loss to Carleton, Thursday’s game was ugly early for Ole Miss basketball against the Gee-Gees but the Rebels came back big.
Ole Miss basketball entered the fourth and final game of the Canada Tour Thursday night off a 81-63 Wednesday night loss. The Rebels had found themselves in a hole against the Carleton Ravens they couldn’t dig themselves out of and picked up their first loss in Canada. Of course, Carleton is considered the premier college basketball team in Canada and had already beaten Cincinnati by 19 points two days earlier. After a 2-0 start the Rebels were sitting on a 2-1 Canadian record and literally looking at returning home 2-2 with two consecutive losses.
Enter the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees who played lights out in the first period of the Rebels final game. In fact, at one point the Rebels were down 41-24 in the first half. Now we really can’t be sure what Kermit Davis said in that time out but something clicked. Maybe it was the Rebels just taking a good look at themselves and wondering what they were doing down that bad? Whatever it was it worked and the Rebels erased a 27 point deficit early into the second half and rode aggressive offense and stellar defense to a 85-74 win. Let’s look at the comeback win by the numbers.
By The Numbers
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Leading all Rebels scoring on the night was senior Terence Davis who had 23 points with 16 rebounds to get his double-double. Davis also had 2 assists and 1 steal on the night. Sophomore Devontae Shuler had 15 points with 9 points coming from the arc. Shuler also had 6 boards 3 assists and 2 blocked shots. Junior Brein Tyree added a 14 point night while getting 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
Rounding out the double-digit scoring for the Rebels was freshman KJ Buffen who had the second double-double of the night with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Buffen also had 1 assist and 1 blocked shot.Freshman Blake Hinson added 9 points and had 4 boards, 1 assist and 1 steal. Junior Dominik Olejniczak had a 8 point night while getting 4 rebounds and 1 blocked shot.Senior Bruce Stevens finished with 5 points to go with 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Junior Zach Naylor had 1 point and 1 board.
As A Team By The Numbers
On the night the Rebels shot 31 of 67 or 46.3% from the field while shooting 8 of 20 or 40.0% from beyond the arc. The Rebels shot poorly from the free thrown line as a team hitting only 15 of 30 or 50.0% of their shots. The Rebels had 11 turnovers and committed 19 personal fouls in their final Canada game. Ole Miss had one player who fouled out. The Rebels out rebounded Ottawa 53-36.
Post Canada Tour Evaluation
After four games the Rebels wrapped up the Canada Tour with a 3-1 record. They had a 102-61 win over McGill, a come from behind 84-77 win over Concordia, the 81-63 loss to Carleton and now the amazing 27 point comeback to get the 85-74 win over Ottawa. Not a bad job from where this team was just a few short months ago. They played well enough to win 3 out of 4 games but there is still room for improvement and it will come with more time for this team to gel. Congrats to Ole Miss basketball on their success on the Canada Tour and Hotty Toddy!