The Ole Miss Rebels men’s basketball team will open the 2017-18 season as they host North Alabama in an exhibition game at 3 p.m. Sunday inside the Pavilion at Ole Miss.
Ole Miss returns four starters from last year’s squad, including Deandre Burnett, Tereance Davis, Breein Tyree and Justas Furmanavicius, along with Marcanvis Hymon off the bench to the court this season.
Burnett and Davis are the highest-scoring returning combo in the SEC with 31.4 points per game and rank the 13th-highest in the nation.
This season, Ole Miss has added a mixture of talented college transfers and high school signees in Markel Crawford from Memphis, JUCO All-American Bruce Stevens, Dominik Olejniczak from Drake and Devontae Shuler.
But Coach Andy Kennedy’s squad has been struck by the injury bug already this season as redshirt freshman guard Karlis Silins re-injured his left knee on November 1st and will be out indefinitely.
North Alabama, an NCAA Division II institution and member of the Gulf South Conference, posted a 14-15 record during the 2016-17 campaign. The Lions are beginning their final season in Division II as they will make the jump to the Atlantic Sun Conference next year.
UNA returns six lettermen from last season’s squad, including guards Tavaras Tolliver and Jeff Hodge. Tolliver averaged 10.2 ppg a season ago, while Hodge added 9.0 ppg. Bobby Champagne is in his 15th year as head coach of the Lions, holding a 230-181 record with four NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure.
Ole Miss and North Alabama have met five times prior to Sunday’s game. The Rebels have been victorious in all five meetings.
Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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