No. 18 Rebels Roll Past Razorbacks 84-67

OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 18 Ole Miss men's basketball team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back, cruising to an 84-67 wire-to-wire win over Arkansas Saturday afternoon. After their 10-game winning streak was snapped to hand them (14-4, 4-1 SEC) their first SEC loss Tuesday night, the Rebels (14-4, 4-1 SEC) bounced back with a convincing victory in front of a sellout crowd at The Pavilion.

Ole Miss caused havoc on defense, converting 17 turnovers (13 steals) in 22 points. The Razorbacks (10-7, 1-4 SEC) were limited to a 36.7 percent (11 of 30) clip in the second half, and 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from three throughout the entire game. The Rebels also controlled the paint 44-28, holding Arkansas leading scorer Daniel Gafford to a season-low nine points.

The Rebels had balanced scoring with four in double figures. Breein Tyree tallied a game-high 22 points, scoring 11 in each half. The junior guard was 7 of 15 from the floor and made all six of his free throw attempts. Senior Terence Davis stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and a career-high five steals. Classmate Bruce Stevens added 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench, going 6 of 7 from the floor. Fellow big man Dominik Olejniczak played his best game of the season, scoring a season-high 13 points going up against Gafford. The Torun, Poland, native also pulled down five rebounds and defended the rim with a pair of blocks.

Another senior played an important factor. In just the second start of his career, D.C. Davis tallied seven points and four assists without committing a turnover. He went 3 of 5 shooting over a career-high 27 minutes.

Ole Miss raced out to a 7-0 lead behind Olejniczak. The seven-footer started the scoring with an old-fashioned three-point play before providing another finish down on the block. Tyree followed by slicing his way through the Arkansas defense for an easy layup. The Razorbacks missed their first six shots over the first six minutes of the game, converting four free throws to get on the board.

Olejniczak scored nine of the home team's first 19 points, allowing the Rebels to push ahead by nine. Arkansas got within six, but Ole Miss increased the lead with a late first half push. With the Rebels up 26-19, Olejniczak and Tyree scored their next 10 points. A Terence Davis offensive putback bumped the cushion to 13 and forced the Razorbacks to call timeout. Right before the first half buzzer, Tyree found an open Davis for a three to send Ole Miss into the locker room with a 46-35 lead.

Three Rebels reached double figures in the first half to lead Ole Miss to its highest first half output this season. Olejniczak and Terence Davis scored 13 apiece to lead the way; Olejniczak was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor and added a pair of blocks. Tyree added 11 points, as the Rebels shot 51.4 percent (18 of 35) from the floor and scored 26 points in the paint.

Coming out of the break, Terence Davis stole the ball and found D.C. Davis in transition. The senior-to-senior fastbreak led to a three-point play, as D.C. Davis converted at the rim while drawing the foul and making the free throw. The sequence bumped the Ole Miss lead to 14 before an 8-0 Arkansas run forced head coach Kermit Davis to ask for a timeout. The Rebels answered with a sweet up-and-under by D.C. Davis and a Terence Davis three after a steal in the 1-3-1 zone, bumping the lead back to double digits, 54-43.

Ole Miss blossomed the margin to 17 thanks to a 13-2 run, and the Razorbacks did not get within single digits for the rest of the second half. Bruce Stevens scored 10 straight points to help keep Arkansas at a distance as the Rebels completed the bounce-back victory.

After back-to-back home games this week, the Rebels return to the road. Ole Miss heads east, rolling into Tuscaloosa, Alabama to face the Crimson Tide (Jan. 22). The Tuesday night tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Rebels will then take a break from conference play, returning to The Pavilion to host Iowa State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge (Jan. 26, 11 a.m. CT). Like all Ole Miss men's basketball games, you can catch all of the action on the Ole Miss IMG Sports Network.

For the latest news and updates regarding Ole Miss Men's Basketball, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMBB, on Facebook at Ole Miss Men's Basketball and on Instagram at olemissmbb.

TIP-INS

Ole Miss improved to 4-1 in SEC play for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
The Rebels won their first game as a ranked team since beating Mississippi State 93-75 (Feb. 6, 2013).
The 17-point victory was the Rebels' largest margin of victory in an SEC game since a 20-point win over LSU (Feb. 14, 2017).
Today's game was the sixth sellout in the history of The Pavilion and marked back-to-back sellouts this week.
Senior D.C. Davis started for the second time in his career; his only other start occurred last season against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Dec. 19, 2017); Davis played a career-high 27 minutes, scored seven points and dished out four assists without committing a turnover.
The Rebels scored 46 points in the first 20 minutes, their most points scored in a first half this season.
Terence Davis jumped from 24th to a tie for 21st (1,286 points) on the Ole Miss all-time scoring list with 18 points; Davis also added nine rebounds, seven assists and a career-high five steals.
Breein Tyree produced his team-best eighth 20-point game of the season with a game-high 22 points.
Dominik Olejniczak scored a season-high 13 points, all coming in the first half.
Ole Miss held Arkansas leading scorer Daniel Gafford to only nine points, his lowest scoring output of the season.

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Team Stats

Breein Tyree

Terence Davis

Bruce Stevens

Dominik Olejniczak

Players Mentioned

D.C. Davis

Terence Davis

Dominik Olejniczak

Bruce Stevens

Breein Tyree

Players Mentioned

D.C. Davis

Terence Davis

Dominik Olejniczak

Bruce Stevens

Breein Tyree

The University of Mississippi Athletics