Kentucky vs Ole Miss.....A Preview

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs Ole Miss.....A Preview

Kentucky vs Ole Miss 2/18/12
Saturday 4PMEST/3PMCST
(SEC Network)
Kentucky leads the series 98-13

Location: Oxford, Miss
Enrollment: 19,536
Arena: 9,061

Head Coach: Andy Kennedy
Career Record: 126-77 (62.1%) 6 seasons
At Ole Miss: 105-64 (62.1%) 5 seasons

2010-11 Record: 20-14
2010-11 SEC Record 7-9
Postseason: NIT-0-1

2011-12 Record: 15-9
2011-12 SEC Record: 5-5

Ole Miss 60 Louisiana-Monroe 38
Ole Miss 69 Grambling 39
Ole Miss 63 Drake 59
Marquette 96 Ole Miss 66
Ole Miss 80 TCU 69
Ole Miss 64 Miami, FL 61 (OT)
Ole Miss 70 DePaul 68
Ole Miss 72 Penn St. 70
Ole Miss 80 Mississippi Valley 56
Ole Miss 66 Louisiana 54
Southern Miss 86 Ole Miss 82
Middle Tennessee 68 Ole Miss 56
Dayton 62 Ole Miss 50
Ole Miss 50 SMU 48
LSU 81 Ole Miss 55
Ole Miss 71 Arkansas 63
Auburn 69 Ole Miss 68 (OT-2)
Ole Miss 75 Mississippi St. 68
Ole Miss 66 Georgia 63
Florida 64 Ole Miss 60
Ole Miss 66 South Carolina 62
Alabama 69 Ole Miss 67 (OT)
Mississippi St. 70 Ole Miss 60
Ole Miss 61 Auburn 54

Ole Miss Stats

PPG-65.7
FG%-42.9%
3 PT%-29.6%
FT%-59.2%
RPG-39.3 (+4.4)
APG-11.4
TO’s-15.5
SPG-6.7
BPG-5.3

Probable Starting Lineup

Terrance Henry-F 6’10” Sr………………….11.6 PPG
Murphy Holloway-F 6’7” Jr…………………10.7 PPG
Jarvis Summers-G 6’4” Fr…………………..10.0 PPG
Nick Williams-G 6’4” Jr…………………….10.1 PPG
Reginald Buckner-F 6’9” Jr…………………7.1 PPG

Unbelievably, coach Kennedy is the only coach in Ole Miss history to have achieved four 20 win seasons. Still, the Ole Miss basketball program continues to struggle for respectability. Ole Miss fan support is poor as the Rebels have only averaged 5,910 fans at home in an arena that seats 9,061.

Overall, Ole Miss has had a decent season and been competitive in most games… and have defeated Miss. St., Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn and Georgia while losing to Florida by only 4 points. The Rebels still have a chance of reaching another 20 game season and maybe gaining another NIT invitation.

Ole Miss starts a senior, 3 juniors and a freshman. The Rebels have a productive frontline with good size in 6’10” Terrance Henry who leads in scoring…6’9” Reginald Buckner who averages 8.4 rebounds while leading in blocks with 56…..and 6’7” Murphy Holloway who leads the team in rebounds averaging 9.2 and also leads in assists. Ole Miss has been a poor perimeter shooting team hitting only 29.6%, but guard Jarvis Summers is hitting a very good 41.7% from the perimeter…..Summers also leads in assists with 81.

Two areas that have hurt the Rebels is their dismal free throw shooting hitting 59.2% and also turnovers where they are averaging 15.5 PG. Although the team is struggling from the free throw line, guard Nick Williams has been very good from the charity line hitting 76.8%.

As always, teams that play UK seem to play with great energy and intensity….and often play their best game of the season….and you can bet that coach Kennedy will have the Rebels ready to play the Cats.

UK has been playing their best basketball of the season and coach Cal is driving the Cats to play even better. This week Cal had an open practice and scrimmage that was on ESPNU and it gave UK fans an opportunity to see coach Cal in action with his team.

UK has the opportunity to go undefeated in the SEC, but there are still some tough games left….especially on the road against Mississippi St. and Florida. However, the Cats can’t afford to overlook any SEC games and that certainly includes Saturday’s game with Ole Miss. I see a solid UK win over the Rebels by 15 points. GO CATS!