By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
The Ole Miss Rebels will welcome the No. 10 Tennessee Volunteers into the Pavillion Tuesday evening for an SEC showdown between two of the best scoring defenses in the league. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
“Look forward to the game,” Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis said. “Obviously, it’s a really good experience blended in with some really good, young talent.”
Ole Miss (8-8, 3-6 SEC) is coming into this matchup after dropping both games last week to Arkansas and Georgia. In the game against the Bulldogs on Saturday the Rebels recorded a season-high 12 steals. The team was lead by junior Jarkell Joiner who came up with a career-high six steals, the most by a Rebel since Terence Davis (Toronto Raptors) had seven against Texas A&M two seasons ago (Feb. 6, 2019).
In Athens, Ole Miss crashed the boards and pulled in 23 offensive rebounds, the most in a game since pulling down 23 versus LSU in 2015.
Tennessee (12-3, 5-3 SEC) rolls into Oxford after back-to-back wins over Mississippi State and No. 15 Kansas last week.
The Volunteers lead the SEC in several categories: assist/turnover ratio (1.4), field goal percentage defense (39.3), scoring defense (59.4), scoring margin (+13.8) and turnover margin (+4.8); the scoring defense ranks sixth nationally.
“Rick has always done a great job with his team,” Davis said. “They’re one of the top teams in college basketball.”
This season, Tennessee is led by John Fulkerson in scoring and in rebounds with 11.2 ppg and 6.0 rpg respectively. His teammate Santiago Vescovi leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.7).
When the ball is tipped off, it will be the 120th meeting all-time between the two schools. Tennessee has a 75-44 advantage in the series. The home team has won 14 of the last 20 regular-season meetings dating back to 2004.
