Ole Miss basketball coach Kermit Davis is in his first season but to watch this Rebels team you would think they had been playing together for years.
While the 2018-2019 Ole Miss basketball season is still young we have seen enough from the Rebels (13-2, 3-0) in 2019 to know this team is for real. In their first three SEC games they have picked up three consecutive SEC wins (10 consecutive total) and two of the games were on the road against Vandy and No.14 Miss State most recently. The Rebels SEC home win happened to come over No.10 Auburn. To say the Rebels are on a roll is an understatement.
In 2019 the Rebels have been perfect on the SEC road and at home they are undefeated on the season. This is a team who in three SEC games has had three different leading scorers with the latest being freshman Blake Hinson who led all Rebels against Miss State with 26 points. This is a very talented team and a very unselfish team and that represents the discipline factor which coach Kermit Davis has brought to Oxford.
A Tough Cup Of Tea
Ole Miss Rebels
Coach Kermit Davis operates a very tight regimen where he expects his players to live up to their end of the responsibility for their part to the team. Miss a study session or if you are late for practice then you get a mark and when those marks add up then you pay the consequences. How does running at 6am sound to a college student-athlete?
Lets just say we don’t have many players running in the morning with coach Kerm at the helm. Coach Davis has made his mark early in the 2018-2019 season with players who have totally bought in to his system. This team isn’t built around one player but it is built for the entire team to do their own parts.
Every player can have a huge night but it will always come unselfishly from each one of them playing as a team. All you have to do is look at this team by the numbers and you get a very good idea of just how good they really are. Last week we watched as junior Breein Tyree picked up SEC Player of the Week honors and it is likely freshman Blake Hinson will receive his own SEC honors this week. Whatever you do please don’t count out senior Terence Davis who is one of the Rebels team leaders. Lets take a closer look.
Rebels Team Leaders
Senior Terence Davis is without a doubt one of the best and most experienced guards in the SEC if not the nation. Davis leads the Rebels in both 3-point field goal percentage and rebounds. Davis makes 42.0% of his shots from beyond the arc while averaging 5.6 boards per game. Davis also averages 15.7 points and 3.5 assists per game. Junior guard Breein Tyree leads the team in scoring with 17.5 points per game. Tyree also averages 3.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
Another junior,center Dominik Olejniczak leads the team in field goal percentage making 69.6% of his shots. While most of Olejniczak’s numbers come under the basket he averages 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. Olejniczak also leads the Rebels in blocks averaging 1.0 per game. Sophomore Devontae Shuler leads the Rebels in steals averaging 1.6 per game. Shuler also averages 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
Here Come The Rankings
Sunday some college basketball media outlets began releasing their rankings. SEC Network and former Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy have the Rebels ranked No.2 in their SEC power rankings behind nationally ranked No.1 Tennessee. CBSSports.com released their rankings Sunday and Ole Miss is sitting at No.14 as the biggest mover up in the nation.
The biggest drop came to Miss State who the Rebels took down Saturday with the Bulldogs dropping to No.23. More rankings will come out Monday and we’ll see just how much the college basketball pundits like the Rebels. The Rebels have momentum and national recognition and rankings in the polls goes a long way going forward.
Coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss basketball will be back in action Tuesday night as they host the LSU Tigers (12-3, 2-0). Tipoff from The Pavilion is set for 8pm CT and the game will be televised via the SEC Network. Be sure to check back here for our Ole Miss/LSU preview coming soon. Hotty Toddy!