Ole Miss Heads to Athens to Face Georgia

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

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team remains on the road as they travel to Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday night. The tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT and can be watched on the SEC Network.

Ole Miss (9-14, 1-9 SEC) comes off an 74-71 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday. The Rebels were led by Jaemyn Brakefield with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

This season, Brakefield has drawn a start in 22 of the 23 games and is averaging 9.5 points with 5.3 boards per night.

The Rebels offense is averaging 67.3 p.p.g. and their opponents are right at 68.0 p.p.g. Ole Miss’ defense has only allowed opponents to top 70 points seven times this year. A major part of their defensive identity has been enforcing the paint, as the Rebels rank 38th in the country in blocks per game (4.6).

Georgia enters their game with the Rebels owning a 14-9 record, having gone 4-6 in conference thus far. After opening SEC play with a 76-64 win over Auburn at home, they fell to Florida on the road 82-75 before defeating Mississippi State 58-50 in Athens. Defeating the Rebels in Oxford, Georgia went on to fall to Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Tennessee before picking up a win over South Carolina. Their previous two games have resulted in a pair of losses to Auburn and Texas A&M.

Georgia ranks among some of the best in college basketball in three-point field goal defense, holding their opposition to 30.3 percent this year (No. 37 NCAA, No. 4 SEC). The Bulldogs have excelled at getting to the charity stripe this season, ranking No. 37 in the NCAA as well in free throw attempts per game (21.4), and No. 32 nationally in free throws made per game (15.7). They rank among the top-100 in the country as well in rebounds per game (37.5, No. 57 in NCAA), bench points per game (24.2, No. 61 in NCAA), offensive rebounds per game (11.7, No. 66 in NCAA), and fouls per game (15.6, No. 76 in NCAA).

Terry Roberts leads Georgia in scoring at 15.0 points per game, the eighth-best clip in the SEC, and ranks fourth in the conference with 4.2 assists per game. In conference games, Roberts ranks third in points per game (16.1) and sixth in assists per game (4.0).

Tuesday will mark the second time Ole Miss and Georgia have met on the hardwood this season. The Bulldogs came into Oxford last month and won 62-58 in the Pavilion. Georgia owns a 77-46 all-time lead in the series. In Athens, Georgia leads the series 42-15 and are 6-4 over the last ten meetings.