By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Ole Miss travels to the state capital on Saturday to battle the Southeastern Louisiana Lions in the Mississippi Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.
Ole Miss (7-3) is returning to action after an 82-64 win over Middle Tennessee last weekend. Senior Breein Tyree had a career-high 34 points against the Blue Raiders and drained eight three-pointers in the game to become the sixth Rebel in school history for that accomplishment.
The Somerset, New Jersey native is averaging 25.3 ppg over the past three games.
Freshman Austin Crowley has stepped up his play over the past five games.
“I have grown in the knowledge of the game,” Crowley said. “Just learning the basics of the game in Coach Kermit’s offense. I think I need to improve physically going into SEC play with just taking how it is in practice and putting it into the game.”
“(Crowley) can become a lot more physical. It is not about your weight but how you use your weight,” Davis said. “There are a lot of point guards who are 170 lbs. that are some of the most physical point guards in college basketball.”
Coach Davis is taking his squad to Jackson for the second straight season.
“This is one of the first things I wanted to do (is play in Jackson),” Davis said. “I thought we had a good crowd last year. A lot of our students are home and alumni are right there.”
Southeastern Louisiana (3-7) rolls in after an overtime loss at Lamar to begin Southland Conference play (Dec. 18). The Lions started the season 2-2, but they have dropped five of their last six games. SLU has already faced an SEC opponent, falling to Vanderbilt 78-70 (Nov. 25). Sophomore forward Ty Brewer leads the Lions in scoring (16.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 per game), putting together four double-doubles through the first 10 games of the season. Junior Pape Diop adds 10.8 ppg, while senior guard Von Julien leads the conference with 4.9 assists per game. As a team, the Lions have forced 17.9 turnovers per game to rank 23rd nationally.
For the second straight season, Ole Miss and Southeastern Louisiana square off in the big house. The Rebels won last year 69-47. Saturday’s game will be the 19th all-time meeting between them as the Rebels lead the series 18-0 over the Lions.
Listen to all the action on the Ole Miss Radio Network or watch the game on SEC Network+.
