The Ole Miss Rebels basketball team looks to put an end to its current four-game losing skid on Saturday as they travel down to the Bayou to face the LSU Tigers. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. on ESPNU.
Ole Miss (11-13, 4-7 SEC) is coming off a 75-69 setback to the Missouri Tigers. Junior Terrence Davis posted his sixth 20-point game of the season to match the total number of 20-point games he had during his breakout season last year.
The Rebels guards are accounting for 70.5 percent of the scoring this season. Senior guard Markell Crawford is four points shy of a 1,000-point career total.
LSU enters Saturday’s matchup with a 13-10 record, including a 4-7 mark in SEC play. After beginning the season 11-4, the Tigers have lost six of their past eight games. Florida took them down 73-64 Wednesday night in Gainesville, the fourth straight road loss for the Tigers.
Freshman guard Tremont Waters leads the Bayou Bengals with 15.0 points per game. Waters paces the conference with 50 steals on the defensive end, ranking 25th nationally, to go along with 5.9 assists per game (third in the SEC). Senior forward Duop Reath adds 13.7 ppg and a team-high 23 blocks, while sophomore guard Skylar Mays is the only other Tiger to average double figures (10.7 ppg).
Will Wade is in his first season as LSU’s head coach after serving as Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) head coach for the last two years. Wade began his head coaching career at Chattanooga, leading the Mocs for two seasons before accepting the job at VCU.
The series with the Tigers, which began in 1909, is the second-longest in Ole Miss basketball history. LSU leads the all-time series 120-88. The Rebels have won eight of the last 12 meetings over the Bayou Bengals, including a 96-76 thumping last year. LSU holds a 79-29 advantage in Baton Rouge, winning the previous two meetings at home. Ole Miss will be looking for its first win there since 2013.
Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
