Ole Miss Basketball: Rebels Hoops Drop Tight Game To Wildcats

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Head coach Kermit Davis of the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders reacts in the second half against the Syracuse Orange during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 20, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 20: Head coach Kermit Davis of the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders reacts in the second half against the Syracuse Orange during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 20, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss basketball were back action Tuesday night as they were hunting their twentieth win of the season against Kentucky.

Coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss basketball (19-11, 9-8) faced No.6 Kentucky (25-5,14-3)Tuesday night at The Pavilion in Oxford. The Rebels entered the midweek matchup hunting their twentieth win of the season and were coming off a 74-73 SEC road loss to Arkansas. Kentucky was coming off a 71-52 road loss to Tennessee. Both the Rebels and the Wildcats were looking to get back in the win column Tuesday night.

The Rebels started the game strong and despite several lead changes in the first half were able to take a 39-38 lead into the locker room at the break. In the second half the Wildcats turned up the heat and outscored the Rebels 42-37 to get the 80-76 win in Oxford. Of course, OHT looks at the game by the numbers.

By The Numbers

Ole Miss Rebels
Ole Miss Rebels

Ole Miss Rebels

As with any game we can look at the numbers and see the flow of the game. As expected in a loss the numbers don’t look very good but there were bright spots for Ole Miss basketball. As a team the Rebels shot just .407 from the field while Kentucky was solid at .554. From beyond the arc the Rebels hit .320 while the Wildcats shot .444 from the 3-point line.

From the free-throw line the Rebels were impressive shooting .909 compared to Kentucky who shot .700 from the charity stripe. The Rebels out-rebounded Kentucky 37 to 29 and created 7 Wildcats turnovers with 4 steals in the game. Kentucky forced 9 Rebels turnovers and also had 4 steals in the contest.

Individual Rebels Numbers

Against Kentucky there were 4 Rebels who scored in double-digits with 1 Rebel recording a double-double. Leading all Rebels was senior Terence Davis who had 25 points. Davis also earned the double-double with 12 rebounds in the game. Davis also had 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot.

Junior Breein Tyree added 21 points with 3 boards, 4 assists and 1 steal. Senior Bruce Stevens added 11 points while sophomore Devontae Shuler added 10 points. Stevens had 7 boards with 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. Shuler had 6 rebounds and 1 assist.

Observations

While the Rebels have been hunting the magical twentieth win they have come up short in their last three games. The Rebels have lost those three games by a combined 7 points and all have been heartbreakers. Two of those losses were to Top10 teams. With only one regular season game left before the SEC Tourney the Rebels need to battle back into the win column this weekend if they expect to see the Big Dance.

Coach Kermit Davis and Ole Miss basketball will be back in action this Saturday as they travel to face Missouri. Tipoff from Columbia is set for 2:30pm CT and the game can be televised via the SEC Network. Good luck to coach Kerm and the Rebels. Hotty Toddy!