Ole Miss basketball was back in action Tuesday night as they were hosting San Diego on ‘Books and Bears’ night in The Pavilion.
Ole Miss basketball (4-2) head coach Kermit Davis and Rebels hoops were back in action Tuesday night as they faced a very good San Diego team in The Pavilion. The Rebels were returning from Destin, Florida where they participated in the annual Emerald Coast Classic where they finished one and one with a win over Baylor and a loss coming to Cincinnati.
The San Diego Toreros (5-2) entered the match-up coming off a 76-58 win over Jackson State. San Diego also had wins over Weber State and Colorado and entered Oxford with their only loss on the season coming to Washington. Under new head coach Sam Scholl the Toreros have picked up where they left off from last season and despite a late rally dropped a 93-86 decision for their 2nd loss of the season. We will look at the game by the numbers.
Team Numbers
Ole Miss Rebels
As a team the Rebels shot .611 from the field while San Diego shot just .484. The 61% from the field effort by the Rebels is the most of any team in the history of The Pavilion. Ole Miss shot .438 from the arc while the Toreros shot just .391 from 3-point range.
The Rebels also out-shot San Diego from the charity stripe at .870 to .833. The Rebels out-rebounded the Toreros 33 to 26 while creating 7 steals opposed to San Diego’s 6. The only number which the Toreros took the advantage was turnovers with 13 while the Rebels committed 14.
Individual Rebels Numbers
The Rebels had a very good offensive game against San Diego with five Rebels scoring in double digits. Leading all Rebels was junior Breein Tyree who had 22 points. Tyree also had 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Senior Terence Davis added 20 points while also pulling down 4 rebounds. Davis also had 9 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots. Once again freshmen KJ Buffen and Blake Hinson showed the future of Ole Miss basketball scoring 15 points each against the Toreros. Buffen also added 7 boards while also getting 1 assist and 1 steal. Hinson had 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. Sophomore Devontae Shuler added 13 points with 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Observations
This San Diego team the Rebels faced is a very good and well-coached team and this Ole Miss win could easily be the game we look back on as the clincher for a successful season. Coach Kermit Davis is just a bit different from what most Rebels fans are accustomed to when it comes to hoops. Coach Kerm likes to play aggressive and his offense is all about ball movement and ball control.
While we continue to see the Rebels commit more TOs than we like to see in any game, we have seen the emergence of what many of us should believe to be the future of Ole Miss basketball. This is a very talented line-up and Davis knows it. Is this the eventual line-up who carries the OM hoops program forward? We have to wait and see but this was a great game-plan against a formidable opponent which resulted in the win for the Rebels.
So, next up for Ole Miss basketball will be another Pavilion matchup which spots the Rebels against the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks who come into Oxford at 3-3. Tipoff from The Pavilion is set for Saturday @ 2:30pm CT and the game will be televised via SEC Network+. Good luck to coach Kermit Davis and the Rebels. Hotty Toddy!