Men's Hoops Heads to Georgia Saturday

			OLE MISS (9-9, 0-5 SEC) at GEORGIA (11-7, 1-4 SEC) Saturday, January 25 • 5:30 PM • Athens, Ga. Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Watch • Listen • Live Stats Ole Miss Game Notes (PDF) • Georgia Game Notes • SEC Game Notes (PDF)

GAME 19
Date: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020
Time: 4:30 p.m. CT
Location: Athens, Ga.
Arena: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Television: SEC Network
   Mike Morgan, play-by-play
   Pat Bradley, analyst
Radio: Ole Miss Sports Network (XM - 386, Sirius/XM Internet - 976)
   David Kellum, play-by-play
   Marc Dukes, analyst
Live Video: ESPN.com/ESPN app
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com/TuneIn app
Series: Georgia leads 73-44
Last Meeting: Feb. 23, 2019
   Ole Miss won 72-71
   Oxford, Miss.

TIPOFF TIDBITS
- Last season, Ole Miss swept a home-and-home series against Georgia for the first time since 1989.
- With an 80-64 victory (Feb. 9, 2019), the Rebels snapped a five-game losing streak in Stegeman Coliseum and won in Athens for the first time since 2012.
- Breein Tyree averaged 24.0 ppg against the Bulldogs last season, including a 31-point outburst in Athens that was a career high at the time.
- The Rebels are in the midst of playing five road contests over seven games.
- Ole Miss is the only team in the SEC playing four of its first six conference games on the road.
- Breein Tyree is averaging an SEC-best 26.8 ppg in conference games; the next player behind him is Georgia's Anthony Edwards (20.4 ppg).
- Breein Tyree has increased his scoring output from non-conference to SEC play in each of his first three seasons.
- In his first game against Georgia last season, Blake Hinson scored 13 points as a freshman.
- Veterans Breein Tyree (18.9 ppg), Blake Hinson (11.0 ppg), Devontae Shuler (10.3 ppg) and KJ Buffen (9.9 ppg) have accounted for 68.5 percent of the team's scoring this season.
- Breein Tyree is the SEC's leading active scorer with 1,508 career points, which also ranks 13th on the Ole Miss all-time scoring list; he is five points away from passing former teammate and current Toronto Raptor Terence Davis (1,512 points) for 12th.
- Devontae Shuler is one of four SEC guards to rank in the conference's top 10 in both steals (6th-1.7) and assist/turnover ratio (7th-1.7).
- KJ Buffen (Gainesville) and Carlos Curry (Albany) hail from the state of Georgia.
- For the second consecutive game, the Ole Miss coaching staff will wear sneakers on the bench as part of #SuitsAndSneakers Week for Coaches vs. Cancer.
- In memory of former Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive and to bring awareness to his foundation for prostate cancer research, the coaching staff will also be wearing a Mike Slive Foundation lapel pin.

SEC LEADERS
- Breein Tyree is the SEC's leader in scoring during league games (26.8 ppg); he ranks third in scoring overall (18.9 ppg) and is the SEC's active leader in career points (1,508) and field goals made (512).
- Tyree is the only player in the SEC to rank top 10 in all three shooting percentage categories during conference play; he is shooting 45.2 percent from beyond the arc (3rd), 45.7 percent from the field (6th) and 86.4 percent from the free throw line (9th).
- Tyree ranks second in threes made per game (3.5) and minutes played (37.5 per game) in conference play.
- Devontae Shuler ranks third in the SEC in steals (2.0 per game) during conference play.

SCOUTING GEORGIA
Georgia enters Saturday's game with an 11-7 record, including a 1-4 mark in SEC play. The Bulldogs return home after back-to-back road losses at Mississippi State (Jan. 18) and Kentucky (Jan. 21). As a team, Georgia ranks second in the SEC with 7.8 steals per game. The Bulldogs are led by freshman Anthony Edwards, who averages 18.9 ppg to sit second in the conference in scoring. Edwards has taken more shots than any other player in the SEC (281), while making the most as well (116). Junior Rayshaun Hammonds add 13.9 ppg to go along with a team-high 8.2 rpg. Tom Crean is in his second season as Georgia's head coach. Crean's previous stops include nine seasons at Indiana (2009-17) and nine seasons at Marquette (2000-08).

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will be the 118th meeting between the two schools as Georgia holds a 73-44 lead in the series. The series has been close as of late with each team winning 10 times over the past 20 matchups. While the Bulldogs own a 41-13 advantage in Athens, the Rebels won the last meeting in Stegeman Coliseum 80-64 (Feb. 9, 2019). The win snapped a five-game losing streak in the arena and was the first victory in Athens since 2012. Two weeks later (Feb. 23), Ole Miss protected The Pavilion to down the Bulldogs 72-71 and sweep Georgia for the first time in a home-and-home series since 1989.

LAST SEASON'S SWEEP
Game 1 (Athens, Ga.) - Ole Miss 80, Georgia 64: Breein Tyree broke the 1,000-point threshold en route to 31 points, a career high at the time, leading Ole Miss to an 80-64 victory over Georgia (Feb. 9, 2019). The Rebels capped off a perfect week by winning in Athens for the first time in seven years. Ole Miss had three double-figure scorers including Tyree. Freshman Blake Hinson added 13 points of his own with three made three-pointers. Terence Davis was all over the stat sheet, scoring 12 points with five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Ole Miss was very active on the defensive end, grabbing 10 steals and forcing 20 turnovers that led to 19 points on the other end. With the help of 13 offensive rebounds, the Rebels held a 21-5 advantage in second chance points.

Game 2 (Oxford, Miss.) - Ole Miss 72, Georgia 71: Behind a strong second half from Tyree, Ole Miss got back to its winning ways with a 72-71 victory over Georgia at The Pavilion (Feb. 23, 2019). Tyree scored 14 of his game-high 17 points in the final 20 minutes, including his own 7-0 run that turned a one-point deficit into a six-point lead for the Rebels. The pressure of the Ole Miss 1-3-1 zone defense forced a missed three-pointer by the Bulldogs at the buzzer to secure the win. Devontae Shuler added 16 points. The Irmo, South Carolina, native knocked down four three-pointers, including the go-ahead long ball with 1:22 to go. Davis added 13 points with a team-high three steals, helping cause 19 Georgia turnovers throughout the game. KJ Buffen added eight points off the bench. Rayshaun Hammonds scored 16 points, and Jordan Harris tallied 15 points for Georgia. Nicolas Claxton also reached double figures with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting.

ON THIS DATE
Six years ago (Jan. 25, 2014), Ole Miss routed rival Mississippi State 82-63 in Oxford. The Rebels' two leading scorers, Marshall Henderson and Jarvis Summers, each finished with 19 points, but it was the contributions from the supporting cast that lifted the Rebels to a four-game winning streak. LaDarius White joined Henderson and Summers in double figures with 11 points. Sebastian Saiz and Aaron Jones each finished with double-digit rebounds, while Anthony Perez added nine points and seven rebounds.

GEORGIA REBELS
A pair of Ole Miss Rebels are from the Peach State. KJ Buffen hails from Gainesville, Georgia and Carlos Curry is a native of Albany, Georgia. Buffen will be playing in his home state for the second time as a Rebel, while Curry redshirted during last season's trip to Georgia.

BREEIN LOVES SEC PLAY
Ole Miss senior Breein Tyree thrives during conference play. Not only is he the leading active scorer in the SEC (1,508 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 to start SEC action this season, scoring 26 points against Texas A&M (Jan. 7) in the conference opener before tallying 27 versus Arkansas (Jan. 11). After missing the Florida game due to a back injury, Tyree returned better than ever and scored a career-high 36 points versus LSU (Jan. 18). With those performances, Tyree became the first Rebel to score at least 25 points in each of the first three 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 leads the SEC in scoring, averaging 26.8 ppg in conference games with the next highest scorer at 20.4 ppg (Anthony Edwards - Georgia).

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	26.8 ppg

SHULER STATS
Junior guard Devontae Shuler leads the Rebels in assists (3.7) and steals (1.7). The Irmo, South Carolina, native is one of four players to rank in the SEC's top 10 in both steals (6th-1.7) and assist/turnover ratio (7th-1.7), joining Kentucky's Ashton Hagans, LSU's Skylar Mays and Missouri's Dru Smith. Shuler has provided some consistency offensively, reaching double figures in eight of the past 10 games.

TYREE TABBED SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE
Breein Tyree was named one of 30 candidates for the 2019-20 Senior CLASS Award on Friday, Jan. 17. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Tyree, one of five SEC men's basketball candidates, has been a leader on and off the court. As a sophomore, he earned a leadership role within the conference by being named Vice-Chair of the SEC Men's Basketball Leadership Council. He has headed the council as chair for the past two years. Tyree, the lone senior on the team, also serves on the Ole Miss Student-Athlete Advisory Committee on campus as a voice for Rebel athletes.

OLE MISS SUFFER SETBACK AT TENNESSEE
In a late road game Tuesday night (Jan. 21), Ole Miss fell 73-48 to the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena. As a team, the Rebels controlled the glass 38-33 with the help of 14 offensive rebounds. Breein Tyree scored 18 points to lead Ole Miss, becoming the 14th Rebel in school history to score at least 1,500 points. Devontae Shuler added 11 points and five rebounds, making five of his 10 shot attempts. John Fulkerson's double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) paced the Volunteers. Tennessee shot 49.0 percent throughout the night, while connecting on 20 of 24 attempts (83.3 percent) from the free throw line.

TYREE'S BIG GAMES
Breein Tyree has nine 20-point games on the season, producing three such contests in November and three in December to go along with three to start SEC play. He has 31 20-point games over his Ole Miss career. His biggest game as a Rebel was a career-high 36 points versus LSU (Jan. 18), the most points by a Rebel since Deandre Burnett scored 41 points against Oral Roberts (Nov. 18, 2016). It was the most scored by an Ole Miss player in an SEC game since Stefan Moody dropped 43 to lead the Rebels over MSU on his senior night (March 3, 2016). Tyree also had 34 against Middle Tennessee (Dec. 14) to give him four 30-point games for his career. Last season, he scored 31 in Stegeman Coliseum to lead Ole Miss past Georgia.

VETERANS LEAD THE WAY
The Rebels are led by a veteran cast. Senior guard Breein Tyree (18.9 ppg), sophomore Blake Hinson (11.0 ppg), junior Devontae Shuler (10.3 ppg) and sophomore forward KJ Buffen (9.9 ppg) have accounted for 68.5 percent of the team's scoring this season. Tyree ranks third in the league in scoring, while Buffen leads the team in rebounding (6.4 per game) and blocks (0.8 per game). Shuler also paces the Rebels in assists (3.7 per game) and steals (1.7 per game), while ranking seventh in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.7). Since returning from injury, Hinson has put together eight double-digit scoring performances, starting 13 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 18 games, one of only two Rebels to start each game, Buffen is averaging 9.9 ppg along with a team-best 6.4 rpg. His rebounding average is 16th in the conference. The Gainesville, Georgia, native is also leading the team in blocks (0.8), while ranking 10th in the SEC in steals (1.5 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). Last week against Florida (Jan. 14), 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 13th on the all-time scoring list with 1,508 points. That career output leads all active players in the SEC. The Somerset, New Jersey, native scored 18 points at Tennessee (Jan. 21) to pass Aaron Harper (1,505) on the all-time scoring list and become the 14th Rebel to score at least 1,500 points. Next on Tyree's climb up the charts is former teammate and current Toronto Raptor Terence Davis (1,512). If he matches his scoring output from a season ago, he'll end his career in the top 10. Through 116 games in an Ole Miss uniform, Tyree has knocked down 182 three-pointers to sit sixth in the program's rankings. He drained a trio of three-pointers against the Volunteers to pass Stefan Moody (181).

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 13 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 last week (Jan. 14), 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). Earlier this month (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. He matched that scoring output in another win over the Washington Wizards (Jan. 17). Averaging 7.3 ppg, he is only Raptor to play in all 44 of the team's games. Davis is the first Rebel to play in the NBA since Justin Reed (2005-07).

NEXT ON THE HARDWOOD
Following a week on the road, the Rebels return home to face the nationally-ranked Auburn Tigers (Jan. 28). Tipoff for the Tuesday night matchup is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The game at The Pavilion begins a home-and-home series between Ole Miss and Auburn.

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Players Mentioned

KJ Buffen

Carlos Curry

Terence Davis

Blake Hinson

Luis Rodriguez

Devontae Shuler

Breein Tyree

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