SEC Hoops Preview: Ole Miss Hosts Tennessee

The No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team travels to Oxford, Miss. tonight to face the Ole Miss Rebels in an SEC matchup.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in The Pavilion at Ole Miss. Tickets are already sold out, except for standing room only. However, coverage of the game can be found on SEC Network. Tennessee is actually the highest ranked team to play at Ole Miss since January of 2017.

14,400 mississippis till tipoff#BeatOleMiss pic.twitter.com/dXZR4AJT1q

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 27, 2019

The Matchup

Tennessee leads the series over Ole Miss 73-44. The last time these two teams met was during February of 2018. The Volunteers defeated the Rebels last year 73-65.

The Volunteers

Seventh-ranked Tennessee heads into this matchup with a 24-3 overall record and is 12-2 in conference play. A win for Tennessee tonight would be the fifth time in school history that the program would have 25 wins in a season.

Unfortunately for Tennessee, two of their three losses have occurred within the last three games and both were on the road. Tennessee fell to No. 5 Kentucky, 86-69, in Lexington on Feb. 16 and the Volunteers are now coming off another loss to No. 13 LSU, 82-80, last Saturday.

The Vols are second in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.68 right behind Gonzaga. They are also third in field goal percentage at 50.4 and fourth in assists with 19 per game.

Forward Grant Williams is the player to watch from Tennessee. Williams leads the SEC in points per game with 19 and is ranked fifth in rebounds per game with 7.6.

Vols guard Jordan Bone also leads the conference in assists per game with 6.3

The Rebels

Ole Miss enters tonight 19-8 on the season and 9-5 in SEC play. While the Rebels are clearly the underdog, they are entering this matchup with some momentum. Ole Miss has won 5 of its last 6 games and are coming off a 72-71 win against the Georgia Bulldogs. This is the first time the Rebels have swept the Bulldogs on a season series since 1989.

Ole Miss is also hot at home against Tennessee. The Rebels have won six of its last seven meetings against Tennessee that took place in Mississippi. It’s also interesting to note that Ole Miss is 11-3 at home this season.

The Rebels currently leads the SEC in free throw shooting with 77 percent. While none of Ole Miss’ players lead any stats in the conference, guard Breein Tyree is ranked third in scoring with 18.4 points per game and free throw percentage with 83.7. He’s also ranked sixth in field goal percentage with 48 percent and three-points with an average of 2.2 made per game.

Ole Miss also has two players in the top five of the SEC in steals per game. Guard Devontae Shuler ranks fourth in steals with 1.8 per game, while guard Terence Davis ranks fifth with 1.7.

https://twitter.com/OleMissMBB/status/1100787911564451841