Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hotttoddy.com
Ole Miss continues the success of the 2019 season inside the Pavilion as they defeated the Western Michigan Broncos 85-58 on Friday night.
“Let’s give Western Michigan credit as they came in confident and on a three-game winning streak with a road win,” head coach Kermit Davis said. “It was a good win.”
Ole Miss (3-0) faced adversity early in the contest against the Broncos as the high scoring offense took a 16-8 early advantage. The Rebels climbed back and took the lead 17-16 at the 8:24 mark behind the play of Devontae Shuler with a layup in the paint.
“At the beginning, I thought that we came out flat as the ball did not move,” Davis said. “The last six to eight minutes of the first half and start of the second we competed well.”
Coach Davis’ squad had three different players reach double figures in the contest all led by senior Breein Tyree with 20 points. His teammates Shuler added 16 to the stats line and Louis Rodriguez posted an additional ten on the night.
“(Tyree) is a good leader he is open and pushes people,” Rodriguez said. “He practices as he plays.”
Rodriguez set a new career-high in a Rebel uniform in scoring and a team-high six boards in the game.
“Rebound turns into offense,” Rodriguez said. “Offense is going to come as long as you defend and rebound.”
Western Michigan (3-1) was held to 33.9 percent from the field by the Rebels defense. The Broncos were led by Brandon Johnson on the floor with 21 points and four rebounds.
“We continued to defend and when you hold a team to (33.9) percent that is great,” Davis said. “As long as you do that we will have a chance to be in some big games then hopefully you can get built to win big games on the road.”
The Rebels shot 52.5 percent from the field and knocked down 80 percent of their shots attempted at the charity stripe.
Ole Miss returns to action on Tuesday as they welcome in Seattle into Oxford. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network +.
