Rebels Cruise Past Vandy

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss took care of Vanderbilt 86-60 inside the Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.

Ole Miss’ (14-15, 5-11 SEC) entire starting five scored in double figures. The Rebels were led on the court by junior Devontae Shuler with 18 points while his teammate Khadim Sy added 12 points and a team-high six boards to the stats column.

“I was really proud of Khadim’s effort in the first half,” Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis said. “We had a meeting yesterday, and he felt bad about the Auburn game. He’s had some good practices and has been very vocal. Today he gave us a great lift in the first half.”

Joining them in double figures was KJ Buffen (17 ), Breein Tyree (11) and Blake Hinson (13).

Ole Miss weathered an 11 point surge in the first 20 minutes of action by Vanderbilt as they came back to take a 15-13 advantage at the 12:31 mark. The scoring went back and forth until Sy made a jumper with 9:47 left to give the Rebels a 19-17 lead.

“We got off to a great start, we put in our three guys off the bench, and it didn’t go so well for about a minute and a half,” Davis said. “All of a sudden the game was tied, and then they were up. When we put them back in, they really played well.”

Vanderbilt (9-20, 1-15 SEC) started the game red hot from beyond the arc as they knocked down their first five of six. The Commodores were led by junior forward Ejike Obinna with 13 points. His teammates Saben Lee (10) and Scotty Pippen Jr (11) also dropped double figures.

The Rebels shared the ball well on the afternoon with 35 made buckets against Vanderbilt.

“The biggest stat to me is we had 26 assists on 35 made baskets. The ball really moved today,” Davis said.

In the second half, Vanderbilt was only able to make one three-pointer against Ole Miss’ defense as they held them to 35 percent from downtown and 34 percent from the field.

Ole Miss forced 11 turnovers in the contest and turned them into 12 points. The Rebels outrebounded the Commodores 37 to 33.

On Wednesday, Ole Miss welcomes the Missouri Tigers for the final home game of the regular season. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.