Davis’ Squad Pulls Win Despite Contest Struggles

Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss closed out the month of December with an 80-63 victory over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Sunday afternoon in the Pavilion.

KJ Buffen scored 20 points against Tennessee Tech. Photo by Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics

The Rebels started the game out slow and had trouble finding their rhythm from beyond the arc as they went 1 for 12 in the first half.

“We’re having a hard time starting games. They played downhill on us and didn’t really guard the ball screen action,” head coach Kermit Davis said. “We just really struggled offensively in the first half with the ball movement, missed a lot of wide-open shots.”

In the first half, Ole Miss turned the ball over nine times. Tennessee Tech took a 32-31 advantage into the locker room at the half.

“It’s just defending, using the dribble and the ball just doesn’t move real early. All of a sudden, we kind of had our back up against the wall and that ball started popping around in the second half. We started looking like a team that was playing unselfish,” Davis said.

Junior Khadim Sy was the third Rebel to get into double figures with 11 points against the Golden Eagles.

Hinson, a sophomore, led the team in boards with 10.

Ole Miss got the ball moving early in the opening minutes of the second half after Tennessee Tech knocked down the first bucket. The Rebels found the bottom of the net from downtown.

Tennessee Tech (3-10) was led in the game by Jr. Clay and Darius Allen who both added 13 points each to the stats column.

Ole Miss ended the contest shooting over 50 percent. The Rebels held the Golden Eagles to shoot 40 percent from the floor.

Ole Miss returns to action next Saturday as they hit the road and take on Wichita State. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. on ESPNU.

“Wichita State is probably the fifth team we’ve played ranked at some point in the top 25,” Davis said. “They’re a team that could win the SEC championship regular season (if they played in the conference). So it’s going to be a great test for us before league play starts.”