Ole Miss Welcomes Georgia into the Pavilion

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

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team returns to the court on Saturday as they play host to the Georgia Bulldogs. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. on the SEC Network.

Ole Miss (6-5, 1-3 SEC) returned to practice on Thursday after falling 72-63 to the Florida Gators on Tuesday. According to head coach Kermit Davis, the team watched the second half of the game after a “really good practice.”

“We have evaluated every position in the last seven minutes of all of our games,” Davis said. “We did all kinds of offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency and some things that we have to improve on.”

In the game against the Gators, Ole Miss had chances of closing out the win.

“We had some great opportunities against Florida,” Davis said. “The biggest part was second-chance opportunities — when we are up nine and 50-50 balls, offensive rebounds. On the other end, I thought we had some really good offensive opportunities that didn’t make it. These leagues, you gotta go to the next day.”

Georgia rolls into the Pavilion with an overall 7-4 record and a 0-4 mark in conference play. The Bulldogs have dropped the first four games in the SEC including a loss to Auburn on Wednesday in which K.D. Johnson made his debut and scored a team-high 21 points.

“Our guys are looking forward to playing Georgia,” Davis said.

This season, the Bulldogs are lead by point guard Sahivr Wheeler with 14.2 points per game with 7.3 assists to lead the league and rank sixth nationally.

“(Georgia) can score and their point guard may be one of the fastest downhill point guards in college basketball,” Davis said. “They go to LSU and get beat in overtime and get 80. (Wheeler) just dominated the game — stayed in the paint all game long. They are a really good offensive team, and it’s obvious they are giving up points in our league, but they can score.”

When the ball is tipped up it will be the 120th meeting between the two schools. Ole Miss trails Georgia 74-45 in the all-time series with the Rebels 3-1 under Davis at the helm. In the last meeting, in the first round of the SEC Tournament, Georgia won 81-63.