Ole Miss Opens SEC Tournament Play Against South Carolina

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

The No. 6 seeded Ole Miss Rebels will take on the No. 11 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC Tournament Thursday night in Nashville. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. on the SEC Network. 

Ole Miss (15-10, 10-8 SEC) rolls into the Music City coming off of back-to-back wins over Kentucky and Vanderbilt on senior night. 

The Rebels are currently on the bubble trying to make the NCAA Tournament as they have won seven of their last nine games. Ole Miss currently sits at 53rd in the NET. 
Ole Miss led the SEC in scoring defense (65.4), rebounding defense (31.7), defensive rebounding percentage (.721) and offensive rebounding percentage (.341) during conference play.

Earlier this week, senior Devontae Shuler was named to the All-SEC First Team. 

South Carolina (6-14, 4-12 SEC) comes into the tournament following losses to Arkansas (101-73) and Kentucky (92-64) last week.

The Gamecocks are led by A.J. Lawson in scoring (16.9 ppg) and steals (1.5 spg). Nearly knocking down a trio of threes per game, Lawson paces the SEC in threes made (2.9) and ranks 25th in the nation.

On the glass, South Carolina is pulling down 13.1 offensive rebounds per game to lead the SEC and rank 12th nationally.

When the Rebels and Gamecocks meet on Thursday night, it will be the 43rd all-time meeting between the two.

Ole Miss leads the series 22-20 over South Carolina, including an 81-74 victory in Columbia last February. During that game, Shuler scored a career-high 31 points in his return to his home state.