Rebels Host 2-0 Spartans at The Pavilion Tuesday

			OLE MISS (1-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. NORFOLK STATE (2-0, 0-0 MEAC) Tuesday, November 12 • 6:30 PM • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500)
Watch • Listen • Live Stats • Buy Tickets • OleMissGameday.com • Game Preview Ole Miss Game Notes (PDF) • Norfolk State Game Notes (PDF) • SEC Game Notes (PDF)

GAME 2
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019
Time: 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Arena: The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500)
Television: SEC Network+
   Richard Cross, play-by-play
    Sean Tuohy, analyst
Radio: Ole Miss Sports Network (Sirius/XM Internet - 977)
   David Kellum, play-by-play
   Marc Dukes, analyst
Live Video: ESPN.com/ESPN app
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com/TuneIn app
Series: First Meeting
Last Meeting: N/A

PROMOTION
Books and Bears Night: Donate a children's book or teddy bear to receive free admission into the game.

TIPOFF TIDBITS
- Norfolk State is one of three 2019-20 opponents that Ole Miss has never faced throughout its 110 seasons of college basketball.
- The Rebels opened their 110th season with a 71-43 victory over Arkansas State.
- The 43 points were the fewest allowed by Ole Miss in five years and the fifth-lowest over the past two decades.
- Ole Miss leads the SEC in scoring defense (43.0 ppg) and turnover margin (+8.0); scoring defense and steals both rank fourth in the country.
- The Rebels won their season opener for the 15th time over the last 16 years.
- Ole Miss is 9-0 all-time against current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
- Nine Rebels made their debut in an Ole Miss uniform during the season opener.
- Devontae Shuler has averaged 15.7 ppg over his three season openers as a Rebel, including his second career 20-point game in the 2019-20 season opener.
- Luis Rodriguez and Khadim Sy made their first career starts as Rebels versus Arkansas State.
- The media predicted the Rebels to finish eighth in the SEC; Ole Miss as finished higher than the preseason projection in seven of the last eight seasons.
- The Rebels are one of five SEC schools to have multiple Preseason All-SEC honorees (Breein Tyree - First Team, Devontae Shuler - Second Team).
- Ole Miss has produced 14 All-SEC guards over the past 13 seasons.
- Breein Tyree is the SEC's leading returning scorer after averaging 17.9 ppg a season ago (third in the conference).
- Breein Tyree is one of 20 guards named to the Jerry West Award Watch List (shooting guard of the year).
- Kermit Davis is in his 25th season as a collegiate head coach, including 22nd in NCAA Division I.
- Ole Miss is one of only 27 teams to have one senior or less; the Rebels also have the fifth-most freshmen on a roster in the country, one of eight programs to have at least seven freshmen.

SEC LEADERS
- Ole Miss leads the SEC in scoring defense (43.0 ppg), steals per game (14.0) and turnover margin (+8.0).
- The Rebels rank second in the conference in scoring margin (+28.0).
- KJ Buffen ranks second among SEC qualifiers in field goal percentage (83.3) after going 5 of 6 from the floor in the win over Arkansas State.

SCOUTING NORFOLK STATE
The Spartans enter Tuesday's matchup with a 2-0 record after thumping Greensboro College 100-59 (Nov. 5) and Penn State Wilkes-Barre 93-53 (Nov. 8). With a 40.5 average margin of victory over the first two contests, Norfolk State is scoring 96.5 points per game. Balanced scoring has benefitted NSU with seven Spartans averaging between 13.0 ppg and 8.0 ppg. Senior Jermaine Bishop boasts the team-high 13.0 ppg to go along with 4.5 apg. Freshman Yoro Sidibe nearly averages a double-double to start his collegiate career with 11.0 ppg and a team-best 9.0 rpg. Robert Jones, the 2019 MEAC Coach of the Year, is in his seventh season as Norfolk State's head coach. He has guided the Spartans to postseason appearances in five of the past six years. Last season, Norfolk State upset No. 1 seed Alabama in the opening round of the NIT. The Spartans earned an NIT berth after capturing the MEAC regular season title with a 14-2 record.

OLE MISS VS. MEAC
Ole Miss holds an unbeaten 9-0 record against current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Although the Rebels have never played against Norfolk State, they have battled Bethune-Cookman (1-0), Delaware State (1-0), Florida A&M (1-0), Morgan State (3-0), North Carolina A&T (1-0) and South Carolina State (2-0). North Carolina A&T was the last MEAC team to face Ole Miss, and the Rebels cruised to an 84-50 victory at Tad Smith Coliseum (Nov. 26, 2013).

FIRST MEETINGS
Norfolk State is one of three teams that Ole Miss will be facing for the first time this season. The Rebels have not faced the Spartans, Seattle (Nov. 19) or CSU Bakersfield (Dec. 7) in their 110 years of college basketball.

REBEL-SPARTAN CONNECTION
- Ole Miss junior Khadim Sy and Norfolk State freshman Yoro Sidibe both hail from Dakar, Senegal.

DOMINATING DEFENSE
Ole Miss put together a dominating defensive performance in the team's season-opening win over Arkansas State (Nov. 8). Along with forcing 23 turnovers, the Rebels held the Red Wolves to 43 points. It was the lowest opposing output in by a Kermit Davis-coach Ole Miss squad as well as the lowest in five seasons. The 43 points were tied for the fifth-fewest by an Ole Miss opponent over the last 20 years, and it marked the 12th time the Rebels held an opponent to 45 points or less during that span.

Points	Opponent	Date
33	LSU	Feb. 7, 2001
38	Southern	Nov. 20, 2014
38	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	Dec. 28, 2002
41	Nicholls	Jan. 3, 2009
43	Arkansas State	Nov. 8, 2019
43	Nicholls	Dec. 15, 2005
43	ULM	Nov. 29, 2005
43	ULM	Dec. 3, 2001
44	Alabama State	Dec. 30, 2003
45	Lipscomb	Nov. 23, 2012
45	Arkansas	March 6, 2004
45	Morris Brown	Nov. 28, 2001

SHULER SHINES IN SEASON OPENERS
Junior guard Devontae Shuler led the Rebels with 20 points in the season opener, knocking down 7 of his 11 shot attempts. It was the second 20-point game of Shuler's career. Averaging 8.4 ppg as a Rebel, Shuler has scored 15.7 ppg over his three season openers in an Ole Miss uniform. As a freshman, he tallied 14 points in a win over Louisiana; his performance was the most points scored by a Rebel freshman in his debut since Trevor Gaskins in 2007.

OLE MISS DEBUTS
In the season-opening win over Arkansas State, nine Rebels made their debut in an Ole Miss uniform: Antavion Collum, Austin Crowley, Carlos Curry, Sammy Hunter, John McBride, Conner McKay, Franco Miller Jr., Khadim Sy and Bryce Williams. The newcomers scored 24 of the teams 71 points (33.8 percent) led by eight from Sy.

CLIMBING THE CAREER CHARTS
In his final year as a Rebel, senior guard Breein Tyree ranks 29th on the all-time scoring list with 1,193 points. If he matches his scoring output from a season ago, he'll end his career in the top 10. Through 100 games in an Ole Miss uniform, Tyree has knocked down 144 three-pointers to sit 11th in the program's rankings.

YEAR TWO OF THE DAVIS ERA
Kermit Davis is in his second season at the helm of Ole Miss Basketball. A nine-time conference coach of the year, Davis is 31st among active Division I head coaches with 424 career wins over 22 seasons, including stints at MT, Idaho and Texas A&M. In 25 seasons as a college basketball head coach, he has amassed 490 wins. Davis wasted no time making an impact in Oxford. With the Rebels coming off a last-place finish in 2017-18, the media picked Ole Miss to land at the bottom of the SEC standings again in 2018-19. However, the Rebels posted a 20-13 record to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years. With a return to March Madness for the sixth time in his career, Davis joined a list of 63 coaches in college basketball history to take three different schools to the NCAA Tournament. Davis was named SEC Coach of the Year by his peers and the Associated Press, earning conference coach of the year accolades for the ninth time in his career. He became the sixth Ole Miss coach to earn SEC Coach of the Year honors, while joining Andy Kennedy as the only Rebel coaches to collect the award in their first year in Oxford.

TYREE LEADS THE WAY
After earning First Team All-SEC accolades and leading Ole Miss back to the NCAA Tournament a season ago, Breein Tyree has earned several preseason accolades as a senior. Along with being named Preseason First Team All-SEC, the Rebel is one of 20 guards nationwide to be selected to the Jerry West Award Watch List (shooting guard of the year). Sporting News also tabbed him a Preseason Third Team All-American. The SEC's leading returning scorer heading into the season, Tyree averaged 17.9 ppg as a junior to rank third in the conference. He bumped his scoring average to 19.1 ppg in conference play, increasing his output from non-conference to SEC action for the third consecutive year. Last season, Tyree was the only player in the SEC to rank in the conference's top 10 in scoring (3rd-17.9 ppg), free throw percentage (3rd-83.1), three-pointers made (7th-2.1 per game) and field goal percentage (10th-45.9).

SHULER TABBED PRESEASON SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC
While Breein Tyree was tabbed Preseason First Team All-SEC, the conference coaches named Devontae Shuler Preseason Second Team All-SEC. Ole Miss was one of five schools to have multiple selections, joining Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee. Shuler had a breakout sophomore season under first year head coach Kermit Davis. Making the transition to point guard, he averaged 10.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 3.0 apg (second on team). The Irmo, South Carolina, native ranked sixth in the SEC with 1.7 steals per game and eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7). His 56 steals were the most ever by an Ole Miss sophomore, the seventh-most by any Rebel in a single season. Shuler had one of the nation's biggest increases in three-point field goal percentage, going from a 25.9 percent clip as a freshman to a team-best 40.2 percent a season ago. He also knocked down 82.3 percent (51 of 62) of his free throw attempts.

YOUNG SQUAD
With Breein Tyree as the lone senior, Ole Miss is one of 27 teams in the country to have either one or zero seniors on the roster. In contrast, the Rebels have the fifth-most freshmen on a Division I roster. Ole Miss is one of only eight teams nationwide to have at least seven freshmen.

School	Number of Freshmen
Navy	11
Utah	11
Air Force	10
TCU	10
Ole Miss	7
James Madison	7
LMU	7
Nebraska	7

DEFENDING HOME COURT
Winning at home has been a trademark at Ole Miss. Over the past 14 seasons, the Rebels are 155-47 (.767 win pct.) in home games. In four-plus seasons (opened January 2016) playing in the $96.5 million Pavilion at Ole Miss, the Rebels hold a 42-21 (.667) advantage against the opposition. Ole Miss has won 280 of its last 359 games (.780 win pct.) in Oxford dating back to the 1996-97 campaign.

NEXT ON THE HARDWOOD
Ole Miss remains at home for its next contest. The day before the Ole Miss football team battles No. 1 LSU in the final home game of its season, the basketball Rebels square off against Western Michigan (Nov. 15). The game will be the back end of a doubleheader with the Ole Miss women's basketball team battling New Orleans to begin the day. Tipoff for the men's game is slated for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

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Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

Antavion Collum

Austin Crowley

Carlos Curry

Sammy Hunter

John McBride

Conner McKay

Franco Miller Jr.

Luis Rodriguez

Devontae Shuler

Khadim Sy

Breein Tyree

Bryce Williams

The University of Mississippi Athletics