Ole Miss hosts No. 7 Tennessee to open SEC play
Dec. 27—OXFORD — Eight days after a disappointing loss to North Alabama Ole Miss faces the entire state of Tennessee.
The Vols are No. 7 as Ole Miss and Tennessee open SEC play Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the SJB Pavilion at Ole Miss.
It's the last of five-straight home games for the Rebels, but they've been able to go only 2-2 in the first four.
Prior to losing 66-65 to UNA on Dec. 20 the Rebels (8-4) lost 72-61 to Central Florida in a game they started with a 21-0 deficit.
"I'm not very pleased with our progress. We have moments. We have good guys. We've got really good people in the locker room. We're not consistent enough in practice. We're not consistent as you guys see in games. We can play in spots," Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said.
The Rebels struggled with ball-screen defense and with stopping dribble penetration against North Alabama.
Tennessee is 10-2 with wins against Kansas and Maryland and losses to Colorado and Arizona on its pre-SEC worksheet.
The Vols have no starter averaging more than 11.8 points but have four averaging in double figures.
Tennessee ranks second nationally in field goal defense (32.9 percent), first in 3-point defense (20.1 percent) and fifth in scoring defense (52.8 points per game).
Ole Miss is averaging 74.3 points and shooting 46.7 percent.
Junior guard Matthew Murrell leads the Rebels with 15.6 points a game.
PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.
