Ole Miss Basketball: Rebels Hoops Get Tough SEC Test In Midweek
After opening the SEC schedule with a huge road win in Nashville Ole Miss basketball returns to The Pavilion for a tougher midweek matchup.
Coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss basketball (11-2, 1-0) are coming off a huge 81-71 SEC opening win over the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. The game was a major statement for this Rebels hoops team who was picked to finish last in the SEC. The win puts the Rebels in 2nd place in the SEC and gives Ole Miss basketball fans a lot to be excited about moving forward.
Naturally it is easy to speculate and project when we watch this team play and there is no doubt they are much improved from last season. Coach Kermit Davis and his game-plan have been well received by the players who have responded well and are getting better with each game. Of course, the season it still young and the competition will only get tougher.
Wednesday night the Rebels play hosts to the No.11 Auburn Tigers (11-2, 0-0) who come into The Pavilion with an impressive resume. So far in the 2018-2019 college basketball season coach Bruce Pearl and the Tigers have wins over No.25 Washington, Xavier, Arizona, and Dayton. The Tigers two lone losses came to then No.1 Duke and NC State. This will be a tough test for the Rebels so lets take a closer look at the Tigers and their key players.
The Auburn Tigers
Ole Miss Rebels
There is good reason why this is the No.11 ranked team in the nation at this point. You can already look at the Auburn Tigers schedule and record and tell they have a very well coached and very talented team. You can see this is a very deep team with a strong bench and when you put them in Bruce Pearl ball they are really very good.
The Auburn Tigers leading scorer is senior Bryce Brown. Brown averages 15.3 points per game while also tallying 2.4 boards and 2.4 assists per game as well. Junior center Austin Wiley leads the Tigers in field goal percentage making 63.6% of his shots. Wiley also averages 11.9 points per game, 5.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
Amazingly Wiley isn’t the leading rebounder for the Tigers, that is held by sophomore forward Chuma Okeke who averages 6.4 boards per game. Okeke also averages 10.9 points per game. Junior guard Jared Harper lead the Tigers in assists with 6.8 per game. Harper also averages 14.9 points per game with 3.2 rebounds per game. Junior guard J’Von McCormick leads the Auburn Tigers in 3-point percentage hitting 57.1% of his shots. When we say this is a very good team it isn’t an uneducated overstatement.
Observations
This will be a huge test for the Rebels in 2019 and could be the game which defines the Rebels season. Without a doubt this will be the very best team which the Rebels have faced hence the No.11 ranking of the Tigers. However, we know Auburn can be beat and the Rebels are riding a perfect home court record in the 2018-19 college basketball season.
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As big as a win could be in The Pavilion for coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss basketball you can be sure this team will come out charged up. The Rebels are currently perfect this season in The Pavilion so we know regardless of the outcome this will be a very good game and it suspected to be very close. Tip-off from Oxford this Wednesday is set for 6pm CT and the game will be televised ESPN2. Good luck to coach Kerm and the Rebels! Hotty Toddy!