Men's Basketball Ready to Face Baylor at the Beach

			OLE MISS (2-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. BAYLOR (3-1, 0-0 BIG 12) Emerald Coast Classic Semifinal Friday, Nov. 23 • 8:30 PM • Destin, Fla. The Arena - Northwest Florida State College (2,196)
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GAME 4 - EMERALD COAST CLASSIC
Date: Friday, Nov. 23, 2018
Time: 8:30 p.m. CT
Location: Niceville, Fla.
Arena: The Arena (2,196)
Television: CBS Sports Network
   Brad Johansen, play-by-play
   Steve Lappas, analyst
Radio: Ole Miss IMG Sports Network (XM-191, Internet-962)
   Eli Savoie, play-by-play
   Marc Dukes, analyst
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com
Series: Baylor leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Jan. 31, 2017
   Baylor won 78-75 (Oxford, Miss.)

TIPOFF TIDBITS
- Ole Miss meets Baylor for the third time in 109 seasons, but the second time in the last three years.
- As a freshman, Breein Tyree scored 20 points against the then-No. 5 Bears.
- The Rebels are in the midst of playing three games in a span of five days, all part of the Emerald Coast Classic.
- Ole Miss is 2-3 all-time against the other teams in the Emerald Coast Classic (1-1 vs. Cincinnati, 1-2 vs. George Mason).
- Ole Miss is 2-0 this season in campus games as part of the Emerald Coast Classic, defeating Western Michigan (90-64) and Nicholls (75-55) at home.
- The Rebels won the inaugural Emerald Coast Classic during the 2014-15 season.
- Ole Miss leads the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (41.5), ranking 31st nationally.
- Allowing only 55 points versus Nicholls Tuesday was the Rebels' best defensive performance in the last 60 games.
- The Rebels held a +16 advantage on the boards against Nicholls, their best rebounding margin since facing Monmouth in the first round of the 2017 NIT.
- Ole Miss is the only team in the SEC to have three players ranked in the conference's top 10 in minutes per game: Devontae Shuler (33.3), Terence Davis (32.3) and Breein Tyree (32.3).
- A Preseason Second Team All-SEC selection by the coaches, Terence Davis leads the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage (58.8 percent), ranking 18th in the nation. Davis ranks second in the conference in scoring (20.3 ppg).
- Sophomore guard Devontae Shuler leads the Rebels in minutes (33.3 per game), rebounding (5.3 per game) and steals (2.7 per game). Shuler ranks second in the SEC in steals.
- Terence Davis ranks 34th in Ole Miss history with 1,072 career points, tied with Coolidge Ball.
- On National Signing Day last week, Ole Miss landed a top 25 class with the addition of four future Rebels; it's the first full recruiting class for Kermit Davis and his staff.
- Kermit Davis, a native of Leakesville, Mississippi, comes to Oxford after spending the last 16 seasons at Middle Tennessee and becoming the winningest coach in school history as well as Sun Belt Conference history.

SEC LEADERS
- Ole Miss leads the SEC in 3-point shooting (41.5 percent).
- Terence Davis leads the SEC in 3-point shooting (58.8 percent).
- Davis ranks second in scoring (20.3 ppg).
- Davis ranks third in 3-pointers made per game (3.3).
- Davis ranks fifth in blocks per game (2.3).
- Davis ranks eighth in field goal percentage (52.5 percent).
- D.C. Davis ranks seventh in free throw shooting (83.3 percent).
- Devontae Shuler ranks second in steals per game (2.7)
- Shuler ranks fourth in minutes per game (33.3).
- Shuler ranks fifth in assist/turnover ratio (2.8)
- Terence Davis and Breein Tyree rank 10th in minutes per game (32.3).

SCOUTING THE BEARS
Baylor enters the Emerald Coast Classic with a 3-1 record, winning its last three games after dropping the season opener to Texas Southern. Friday's game will be the Bears' first away from home. Baylor returns two starters from last year's team that made the second round of the NIT. That duo, King McClure (14.3 ppg) and Tristan Clark (13.8), has already gotten off to a strong start this season. However, it's junior college transfer Devonte Bandoo that leads Baylor in scoring at 14.5 ppg. As a team, the Bears rank third in the country in blocks per game (7.3). Clark has 11 through the first four games to lead the way. Scott Drew enters his 16th season as Baylor's head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. BAYLOR
Baylor holds a 2-0 advantage in the series that dates back to 1970. In the first meeting, the Bears won a high-scoring affair 132-113 in a tournament in Charleston, South Carolina (Dec. 29, 1970). Fast forward to 2017, the two teams met in The Pavilion as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Sebastian Saiz posted a double-double (20 points, 10 rebounds), and Breein Tyree added 20 points, including 18 in the second half, but Ole Miss dropped a nail biter to No. 5 Baylor. Ole Miss dominated early on and jumped out to a 33-18 lead with 6:33 remaining in the first half. The Rebels' 1-3-1 zone defense bothered Baylor for a big chunk of the game, but the Bears rallied to escape with the road victory. Terence Davis recorded nine points.

REBELS VS. THE BIG 12
Ole Miss is 16-24 all-time against the Big 12, facing all 10 current members of the conference. The Rebels are 0-2 against Baylor but have also faced Iowa State (0-1), Kansas (0-1), Kansas State (3-2), Oklahoma (2-1), Oklahoma State (1-0), TCU (3-2), Texas (6-9), Texas Tech (1-4) and West Virginia (0-2). Tuesday's game is the Rebels' first of two games against Big 12 opponents this season. In January, Ole Miss will host Iowa State as part of the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

EMERALD COAST CLASSIC WEEK
All three of the Rebels' games this week are part of the Emerald Coast Classic. Ole Miss is 2-0 in the tournament, earning a 90-64 victory over Western Michigan in the season opener followed by a 75-55 win against Nicholls on Tuesday. Both contests served as Emerald Coast Classic campus games but did not have any effect on the bracket at the beach. After facing Baylor in the final game of the day Friday, the Rebels will play either Cincinnati or George Mason (Nov. 24), based on the previous day's results, to close out the tournament.

INAUGURAL ECC CHAMPS
Ole Miss returns to the Emerald Coast Classic for the first time since winning the inaugural tournament during the 2014-15 season. Ole Miss captured the 2014 Emerald Coast Classic with a 66-54 win over Cincinnati in the championship game. The Rebels also knocked off No. 23 Creighton in the semis. Stefan Moody was named the Emerald Coast Classic MVP and Jarvis Summers was named to the all-tournament team. Moody scored 26 points to lead the Rebels in the championship game, while 23 points from Summers helped Ole Miss upset the nationally-ranked Blue Jays in the semifinals.

A NEW ERA OF OLE MISS BASKETBALL
The 2018-19 season is the dawn of a new era for Ole Miss Basketball. A new head coach took the reins of the program when Kermit Davis was hired on March 15, 2018. Davis, the winningest coach in Middle Tennessee history, returns to his home state with years of success. A native of Leakesville, Mississippi, Davis guided the Blue Raiders to league titles in seven of his last nine years in Murfreesboro, between Conference USA and the Sun Belt. Middle Tennessee was one of five programs he led to conference championships in 36 years as an assistant and head coach. An eight-time conference coach of the year, Davis is 32nd among active Division I head coaches with 405 career wins, including stints at MT, Idaho and Texas A&M. He ranks 11th nationally in winning percentage over the last three years and 13th over the last seven.

BALANCED SCORING AND DEFENSE LEAD TO WIN OVER NICHOLLS
In the final game before heading to the beach for Thanksgiving, Ole Miss used pressure defense and balanced scoring for a wire-to-wire 75-55 victory over Nicholls on Tuesday night at The Pavilion. Ole Miss held the Colonels to just 55 points and 33.8 percent shooting (22 of 65) from the field, its best defensive output in 60 games dating back to the 2016-17 season. Six Rebels tallied at least eight points led by Terence Davis. The senior guard tallied 14 points to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high four blocks. Davis guarded Jeremiah Jefferson, the leading scorer in the Southland Conference (19.8 ppg), throughout most of the night, keeping him to seven points on 3 of 13 shooting (1 of 7 from three-point land). Fellow senior Bruce Stevens added 13 points, while Breein Tyree reached double figures for the ninth straight game with 10 points. Tyree matched sophomore guard Devontae Shuler with a team-high six assists. Shuler stuffed the stat book by recording nine points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. Blake Hinson scored a career-high eight points, and senior D.C. Davis tallied eight off the bench as well.

DEFENSE WINS
In Tuesday's win, the Rebels held Nicholls to only 55 points. It was their best defensive performance since limiting Bradley to 49 points (Dec. 19, 2016) 60 games ago. Ole Miss also kept the Colonels to a 33.8 shooting percentage from the field. The last time a team shot below 34 percent was also Bradley (32.3 percent), except this time occurring last season in an 82-59 Ole Miss win in The Pavilion.

REBELS FALL IN HARD FOUGHT BATTLE WITH BUTLER
In the first road game of the season, Ole Miss dropped a tough one Friday night (Nov. 16) at Hinkle Fieldhouse as the Butler Bulldogs outlasted the Rebels, 83-76. It was a back-and-forth contest from the get go. Terence Davis had a season-high 30 points on 10 of 16 shooting, three points shy of his career high. The senior had 21 of his points in the first half and matched his career high with six threes made in a game. Breein Tyree added 17 points of his own. Butler's Paul Jorgensen stole the night for the hometown team, going off for a career-high 27 points. Kamar Baldwin added 23, including a perfect 12 of 12 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Bulldogs made all 18 of their free throws in the second half.

TD FOR 3-0
Scoring a game-high 30 points Friday night, senior Terence Davis recorded the fourth 30-point game of his career. He also knocked down six 3-pointers for the third time as a Rebel (career best). Davis' 30-point performances are below.

Date	Opponent	Points	FG	3FG	FT	Result
Nov. 16, 2018	at Butler	30	10-16	6-9	4-5	L, 76-83
Jan. 20, 2018	at Arkansas	30	10-15	5-8	5-6	L, 93-97
March 18, 2017	at Syracuse (NIT)	30	11-14	6-7	2-4	W, 85-80
Feb. 14, 2017	LSU	33	13-21	3-7	4-4	W, 96-76

FIRST HALF FIRE
The SEC's second-leading scorer at 20.3 ppg, Terence Davis has scored 44 of his 61 points this season in the first half. He tallied all of his team-high 17 points in the season-opening win over Western Michigan. Against Butler, Davis scored 21 of his team's first half points.

SHULER'S STELLAR SOPHOMORE START
Sometimes the biggest jumps are from one's freshman to sophomore year. After playing in all 32 games last year, primarily coming off the bench, sophomore Devontae Shuler has gotten off to a fast start this season. Through three games as a starting guard, he leads the Rebels in minutes (33.3 per game), rebounding (5.3 per game) and steals (2.7 per game). He is second in the SEC in steals, while ranking fourth in minutes per game. Against Butler, Shuler tallied team highs in rebounds (8), assists (5) and steals (3). The eight rebounds were career highs for the Irmo, South Carolina, native. He followed that up with nine points, seven rebounds, a career-high six assists and three steals in Tuesday's win versus Nicholls.

RELYING ON THE THREE
Ole Miss leads the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage. The Rebels are the only team shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc, going 27 of 65 for a 41.5 percent clip (31st nationally). Making 9.0 threes per game, Ole Miss ranks second in the SEC. Individually, Terence Davis leads the way with an SEC-best 58.8 percent from long range, 18th in the country. The senior guard is third in the conference with 3.3 threes made per game. Last season, Ole Miss relied on the long ball by making 7.8 threes per game (sixth in the SEC). The Rebels went 11-7 when they shot over 30 percent from beyond the arc but 1-13 when making less than 30 percent from long distance.

A LATE START
The Rebels started their season on Nov. 10, four days after the official start of the college basketball season. With only one game per week, Ole Miss was the only team in the SEC to play just two games through the first two weeks of the 2018-19 campaign. With three games in five days this week, the season will speed up quickly for the Rebels.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Senior Terence Davis has 1,072 points to rank 34th in Ole Miss history, tied with Coolidge Ball. He is on pace to crack the top 20, and with a big year, could find himself in the top 10 to end his Rebel career. With 30 points at Butler, Davis passed Todd Abernethy (1,036), Denver Brackeen (1,040) and Ron Coleman (1,046) to move from 39th to 36th. On Tuesday, he passed Jason Harrison (1,066) by recording a team-high 14 points. Next on his chase up the chart are Terrance Henry (1,095) and Fred Cox (1,102). John Stroud is the Rebels' all-time scoring leader with 2,328 points.

NEXT ON THE HARDWOOD
After a weekend at the beach, the Rebels return home for a pair of games in The Pavilion. First, Ole Miss hosts San Diego for a midweek matchup (Nov. 28) set for 6:30 p.m. Kicking off the month of December, the Rebels welcome ULM to Oxford for a Saturday afternoon tilt with a 1 p.m. tipoff. Both games will air on SEC Network+and can be heard on the airwaves of the Ole Miss IMG Sports Network.

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Players Mentioned

D.C. Davis

Terence Davis

Blake Hinson

Devontae Shuler

Bruce Stevens

Breein Tyree

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