Red Out The Pavilion as Men's Hoops Hosts LSU

			OLE MISS (9-7, 0-3 SEC) vs. LSU (12-2, 4-0 SEC) Saturday, January 18 • 7 PM • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500)
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GAME 17
Date: Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020
Time: 7 p.m. CT
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Arena: The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500)
Television: ESPN2
   Roy Philpott, play-by-play
   Jimmy Dykes, analyst
Radio: Ole Miss Sports Network (XM - 380, Sirius/XM Internet - 970)
   David Kellum, play-by-play
   Marc Dukes, analyst
Live Video: ESPN.com/ESPN app
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com/TuneIn app
Series: LSU leads 122-88
Last Meeting: Jan. 15, 2019
   LSU won 83-69
   Oxford, Miss.

TIPOFF TIDBITS
- Ole Miss and LSU are playing a home-and-home series for the first time since the 2014-15 season; the two teams will meet in Baton Rouge exactly two weeks later (Feb. 1).
- Ole Miss leads the series 55-35 in Oxford, which includes winning five of the last seven at home.
- The Rebels are shooting 84.9 percent (45 of 53) from the free throw line in conference games, leading the SEC.
- Breein Tyree leads the SEC in scoring during conference games, averaging 26.5 ppg; he is the first Rebel to score at least 25 points in each of the first two SEC games since Joe Harvell (1992).
- Breein Tyree has increased his scoring output from non-conference to SEC play in each of his first three seasons.
- Three Rebels (KJ Buffen, Blake Hinson and Devontae Shuler) have recorded their first career double-doubles in games over the past week.
- Ole Miss is one of two SEC teams to play four non-conference Quadrant 1 games, joining Georgia.
- The Rebels have held opponents under 30 percent from beyond the arc in 11 games this season, including seven games below 25 percent.
- Veterans Breein Tyree (17.8 ppg), Blake Hinson (11.4 ppg), Devontae Shuler (10.5 ppg) and KJ Buffen (10.4 ppg) have accounted for 67.1 percent of the team's scoring this season.
- Breein Tyree is the SEC's leading active scorer with 1,454 career points, which also ranks 15th on the Ole Miss all-time scoring list; Tyree is tied with Toronto Raptor Terence Davis for seventh in Ole Miss history with 176 made three-pointers.
- KJ Buffen recorded 13 points, five rebounds and a season-high three steals against LSU last season; as a freshman, he was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor in 19 minutes off the bench.
- On this date 17 years ago (Jan. 28, 2003), the Rebels went down to Baton Rouge and knocked off No. 23 LSU 67-57, snapping the Tigers' 11-game home winning streak.
- Head coach Kermit Davis spent five seasons (1998-2002) as LSU's associate head coach, helping the Tigers to a Sweet 16 appearance during the 1999-2000 season.

SEC LEADERS
- Ole Miss leads the SEC in free throw percentage in conference games (84.9).
- Breein Tyree is the SEC's leader in scoring during league games (26.5 ppg).
- Breein Tyree ranks fifth in scoring overall (17.8 ppg); he is the SEC's active leader in career points (1,454) and field goals made (493).

SCOUTING LSU
Receiving votes in both national polls, LSU enters Saturday's matchup with a 12-4 record. The Tigers are also 4-0 in league play, the only remaining unbeaten team in SEC action, following an overtime victory at Texas A&M (Jan. 14). LSU has escaped with victories its last three games with each being decided by four points or less. As a team, the Tigers lead the SEC in field goal percentage (48.4) and rank 13th nationally. They are also 24th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 79.9 ppg. Skylar Mays paces the offense with 16.0 ppg, while averaging 2.1 spg on the defensive side of the floor. Emmitt Williams adds 13.2 ppg, shooting 62.0 percent from the field (13th nationally). Three other Tigers average double figures to lead the balanced scoring attack: Trendon Watford (13.2 ppg), Darius Days (12.5 ppg) and Javonte Smart (11.2 ppg). Will Wade is in his third season as LSU's head coach after serving as VCU's head coach for two years. Wade began his head coaching career at Chattanooga, leading the Mocs for two seasons before accepting the job at VCU.

SERIES HISTORY
The series with the Tigers, which began in 1909, is the second-longest in Ole Miss Basketball history. LSU leads the all-time series 122-88. The Rebels have won eight of the last 14 meetings over the Bayou Bengals, including five of the last seven in Oxford. Ole Miss holds a 55-35 advantage in Oxford, but each team has won once in The Pavilion. This season, the two squads are playing a home-and-home series for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign.

LAST TIME WE MET
Playing its first game as a ranked team in The Pavilion, in front of a sellout crowd, the No. 18 Ole Miss men's basketball team saw its 10-game winning streak come to an end (Jan. 15, 2019). Breaking a 31-31 tie at the half, LSU handed the Rebels their first loss in conference play 83-69. Terence Davis posted his second double-double over the past three games with team highs in points (21) and rebounds (10). KJ Buffen added 13 points, five rebounds and a season-high three steals. The freshman forward was a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor in 19 minutes off the bench. Also reaching double figures was Breein Tyree, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half. As a team, Ole Miss shot 40.6 percent (26 of 64) from the field. However, the Rebels uncharacteristically struggled from beyond the arc (8 of 28) and at the free throw line (9 of 17). LSU was led by huge nights from Tremont Waters (20 points, nine assists) and Kavell Bigby-Williams (14 points, 10 rebounds).

ON THIS DATE
Ole Miss delivered an upset victory over the nationally-ranked Tigers 17 years ago (Jan. 18, 2003). Aaron Harper scored 10 of his 16 points in the final eight minutes as the Rebels beat No. 23 LSU 67-57, snapping the Tigers' 11-game home winning streak. LSU made just one field goal over the final 9:52. Both teams didn't give up many points - Ole Miss was ranked No. 1 in the SEC in scoring defense, LSU was No. 3 - and each emphasized defense throughout.
The Tigers shot just 38 percent from the field (20 for 52), including 28 percent in the second half and 1 for 13 on 3-point attempts, while Ole Miss shot 50 percent (25 for 50) from the floor. Justin Reed, who was slowed by a sore foot and an eye injury that forced him to wear goggles, had 17 points for the Rebels. Emmanuel Wade scored 16 points, and Derrick Allen added 10. Jaime Lloreda led LSU with 14 points. Ronald Dupree had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Antonio Hudson added 12 points.

REBEL-TIGER CONNECTIONS
- Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis spent five seasons (1998-2002) at LSU as associate head coach before going to Middle Tennessee and becoming the winningest coach in school history. Davis' time on the bayou was highlighted by a 28-6 record during the 1999-2000 season, which resulted in a NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
- The Rebels will also see a familiar face on the opposing sideline Saturday night. LSU assistant coach Bill Armstrong spent 11 seasons (2007-17) at Ole Miss alongside former head coach Andy Kennedy. He served five seasons as coordinator of basketball operations before being promoted to assistant coach for six years.

FREE THROW SUCCESS
Ole Miss has been knocking down free throws at an impressive rate in SEC play, shooting 84.9 percent through the first three games. The Rebels were almost perfect from the charity stripe versus the Razorbacks (Jan. 11), making 25 of their 26 attempts to set a new Pavilion record for free throw percentage. The 96.2 percentage was the third-best in school history, behind only a pair of perfect percentages. Below is the top five single game free throw percentages (minimum 10 attempts) in 110 seasons of Ole Miss Basketball.

	Percentage	FT-FTA	Opponent	Date
1.	100%	22-22	South Alabama	Nov. 18, 2008
	100%	10-10	Mississippi State	Feb. 28, 1959
3.	96.2%	25-26	Arkansas	Jan. 11, 2020
4.	95.7%	22-23	Baylor	Jan. 28, 2017
	95.7%	22-23	Murray State	Nov. 17, 2010

BREEIN LOVES SEC PLAY
Ole Miss senior Breein Tyree thrives during conference play. Not only is he the leading active scorer in the SEC (1,454 points), but his scoring output has increased from non-conference action to SEC play in each of his first three seasons. He kept the trend going last week, scoring 26 points against Texas A&M in the conference opener before tallying 27 versus Arkansas. With those performances, Tyree became the first Rebel to score at least 25 points in each of the first two SEC games of the season since Joe Harvell (1992). During the 1991-92 campaign, Harvell started conference play with four consecutive 30-point games.

Tyree's Seasons	Non-Conference	SEC
2016-17 (Freshman)	5.1 ppg	9.3 ppg
2017-18 (Sophomore)	9.0 ppg	12.3 ppg
2018-19 (Junior)	16.5 ppg	19.1 ppg
2019-20 (Senior)	16.5 ppg	26.5 ppg

INITIATE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
After going through the first 14 games of the season without a double-double, Ole Miss has had three Rebels record the statistic over the past two games. Against Arkansas last weekend, KJ Buffen and Devontae Shuler produced the Rebels' first double-doubles of the season. It was also the first double-doubles of their careers. Buffen tallied 12 points to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds, while Shuler recorded 10 points and a career-best 11 boards. The duo became the first pair of Rebels to put together a double-double in the same game since Terence Davis and Dominik Olejniczak accomplished the feat against No. 22 Auburn (Jan. 9, 2018). Blake Hinson added his first career double-double in his return to Florida (Jan. 14), scoring 16 points with a career-high 11 rebounds.

DEFENDING HOME COURT
Winning at home has been a trademark at Ole Miss. Over the past 14 seasons, the Rebels are 161-49 (.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 48-23 (.676) advantage against the opposition. Ole Miss has won 286 of its last 367 games (.779 win pct.) in Oxford dating back to the 1996-97 campaign. Under second year head coach Kermit Davis, the Rebels are 18-7 (.720 win pct.) at home.

PACK THE PAVILION
After a new average attendance record (7,816) was broken during the 2018-19 campaign, a 13 percent increase from the previous season, another record was set this season with 5,100 season ticket holders and counting. Last season, the Rebels had the highest increased home attendance in the SEC for conference games (23.75 percent). For SEC games, the 8,791 average attendance was up significantly from the 7,104 average during the 2017-18 campaign. Five sellouts in 2018-19 also broke another Pavilion record. The Pavilion has nine sellouts in its history (opened in January 2016).

GATORS TOO TALL A TASK FOR SHORT-HANDED REBELS
Ole Miss was without two starters Tuesday night, including leading scorer Breein Tyree due to injury. A road test short-handed proved to be a tall order, and the Rebels fell to the Florida Gators 71-55. In his return to his home state, sophomore Blake Hinson produced his first career double-double. The Deltona, Florida, native tallied 16 points to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds. Fellow classmate KJ Buffen scored a team-high 20 points for his third 20-point game of the season. He found most of his success at the free throw line, going 10 of 11. Keyontae Johnson (15 points), Kerry Blackshear Jr. (13 points) and Andrew Nembhard (10 points) all recorded double figures for the Gators. As a team, Florida shot 54 percent (27 of 50) from the field and controlled the paint with 44 points.

TYREE'S 20-POINT GAMES
Breein Tyree has eight 20-point games on the season, producing three such contests in November and three in December to go along with a pair to start SEC play. He has 30 20-point games over his Ole Miss career. His biggest game as a Rebel was a career-high 34 points versus Middle Tennessee (Dec. 14) for his third career 30-point game. Tyree went 8 of 11 from beyond the arc in the victory. Last year, he scored 20 points against the Gators.

VETERANS LEAD THE WAY
The Rebels are led by a veteran cast. Senior guard Breein Tyree (17.8 ppg), sophomore Blake Hinson (11.4 ppg), junior Devontae Shuler (10.5 ppg) and sophomore forward KJ Buffen (10.4 ppg) have accounted for 67.1 percent of the team's scoring this season. Against Arkansas (Jan. 11), the quartet scored 62 of the team's 72 points (86.1 percent). Tyree ranks fifth in the league in scoring, while Buffen leads the team in rebounding (6.5 per game) and blocks (0.9 per game). Shuler also paces the Rebels in assists (3.9 per game) and steals (1.7 per game), both top 10 in the SEC, while ranking eighth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.7). Since returning from injury, Hinson has put together seven double-digit scoring performances, starting 11 games following the injury to Luis Rodriguez.

NEEDING BUFFEN
KJ Buffen was a primary bench player during his freshman campaign, but the 6-foot-7 forward is an important piece of the Ole Miss lineup as a sophomore. Starting all 16 games, one of only two Rebels to start each game, Buffen is averaging 10.4 ppg along with a team-best 6.5 rpg. His rebounding average is 14th in the conference. The Gainesville, Georgia, native is also leading the team in blocks (0.9), while ranking eighth in the SEC in steals (1.6 per game). Buffen tallied a career-high 23 points in a win over Norfolk State (Nov. 12) before producing his second career 20-point game to close out the calendar year against Tennessee Tech (Dec. 29). Tuesday night against Florida, Buffen scored a team-high 20 points and found most of his success at the free throw line. He went 10 of 11 at the line for a career high in made free throws, all in the second half.

CLIMBING THE CAREER CHARTS
In his final year as a Rebel, senior guard Breein Tyree ranks 15th on the all-time scoring list with 1,454 points. That career output leads all active players in the SEC. The Somerset, New Jersey, native scored 27 points against Arkansas (Jan. 11) to pass 1998 SEC Player of the Year Ansu Sesay (1,428) on the all-time scoring list. Next on Tyree's climb up the charts is Murphy Holloway (1,476). If he matches his scoring output from a season ago, he'll end his career in the top 10. Through 114 games in an Ole Miss uniform, Tyree has knocked down 176 three-pointers to sit in a tie for seventh in the program's rankings. He drained a pair of three-pointers against the Razorbacks to match former teammate Terence Davis for seventh all-time, while Stefan Moddy awaits in sixth with 181 career three-pointers.

BLAKE IS BACK
After missing the first four games of the season, sophomore Blake Hinson wasted no time making an immediate impact for the Rebels. The Deltona, Florida, native averages 11.0 ppg and 5.2 rpg, second among Rebels in both categories. Hinson has also started all 11 games following the injury to Luis Rodriguez, filling a void in the Ole Miss lineup. He scored a season-high 23 points in the win over CSU Bakersfield (Dec. 7). At Florida this week, returning to his home state, Hinson produced his first career double-double with 16 points and career-high 11 rebounds.

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 38th among active Division I head coaches with 432 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 498 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.

TD IN THE NBA
The Rebels are without 2018-19 Second Team All-SEC guard Terence Davis, who finished his career ranked 12th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,512 points. After going undrafted, Davis turned heads in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and quickly earned a multi-year deal with the reigning champion Toronto Raptors. Davis has become a regular in the Raptors' rotation to start the NBA season. The Southaven, Mississippi, native matched LeBron James with 13 points in the Raptors' win over the Lakers (Nov. 10). Last week (Jan. 8), Davis was called upon to make his first career start, and boy did he deliver. The NBA Rebel scored a career-high 23 points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, both team highs, to record his first double-double and lead the Raptors to a victory over the Hornets. In overtime, Davis knocked down back-to-back threes to turn a three-point deficit into a three-point lead. Averaging 7.1 ppg, he is only Raptor to play in all 40 of the team's games. Davis is the first Rebel to play in the NBA since Justin Reed (2005-07).

SESAY EARNS HIS DEGREE
Ansu Sesay, the 1998 SEC Player of the Year and consensus All-American, returned to Ole Miss this season as a manager to serve on Kermit Davis' staff and pursue his degree. Through the Rebel Reconnect program, he completed his final courses in December to earn a bachelor's degree in university studies. During his playing days, Sesay averaged 18.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game over his collegiate career as he became one of only two Rebels to ever record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 200 assists. Leaving school early 20 years ago, he was chosen in the second round of the 1998 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Sesay played three years with the Seattle Sonics as well as one season as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

NEXT ON THE HARDWOOD
Up next, Ole Miss returns to the familiar road for back-to-back games away from home. First, the Rebels head north to face the Tennessee Volunteers (Jan. 21). Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network. In one week, Ole Miss will play its fifth road contest over the past seven games when it invades Georgia to battle the Bulldogs (Jan. 25).

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Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

Terence Davis

Blake Hinson

Dominik Olejniczak

Luis Rodriguez

Devontae Shuler

Breein Tyree

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