By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Ole Miss senior Breein Tyree was named to the first-team all-district by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the organization of NCAA basketball coaches announced on Monday.
Last season, Tyree earned NABC Second-Team All-District accolades as a junior, now is one of only five players on the first team.
As a senior, Tyree had the best season of his career as he averaged 19.7 ppg to rank 36th in the country. For the fourth straight season, Tyree increased his scoring average in SEC play by ranking second in the conference with 22.2 ppg. He was the third Rebel to average more than 20 points per game in SEC action since the 1998-99 season when electronic stats started to be tabulated. Only Moody averaged more, scoring 23.4 ppg during the 2015-16 season. Marshall Henderson averaged 20.4 ppg before leading the Rebels to the 2013 SEC Tournament title.
The Somerset, New Jersey native ranked eighth in the SEC in free throw percentage (82.2) and ninth in three-pointers made per game (2.1), those numbers were even better during conference play. The senior guard shot 85.8 percent from the line in SEC contests, ranking fourth, while draining 2.2 threes per conference game to sit seventh. Also in SEC games, Tyree shot 45.0 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Tyree had 15 20-point games on the season, producing three such contests in November and three in December to go along with nine in SEC play. His biggest game as a Rebel was a career-high 40 points to lead Ole Miss to a blowout win over rival Mississippi State (Feb. 11), the most points by a Rebel since Deandre Burnett scored 41 points against Oral Roberts (Nov. 18, 2016). It was the most scored by an Ole Miss player in an SEC game since Stefan Moody dropped 43 to lead the Rebels over MSU on his senior night (March 3, 2016). Tyree also had 34 against Middle Tennessee (Dec. 14), 36 versus LSU (Jan. 18) and 38 against South Carolina to give him four 30-point games this season. Along with his scoring, Tyree ranked second on the team in assists (2.5 per game) and third in steals (1.3 per game).
In his career, Tyree became one of only three Rebels to make 200 three-pointers and score at least 1,700 points, joining Joe Harvell and Chris Warren. Tyree ranks sixth in Ole Miss history in points (1,797) and threes made (207). He also ended his career ninth in free throws made (384), 10th in field goals made (603), 10th in assists (325) and 10th in minutes played (3,634).
