With 10 days until the official tipoff of the 2019-20 season, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team finds itself in a familiar position. Picked once again to finish in the bottom half of the conference, the squad is hungry to prove itself in a crowded SEC field.
The Rebels return most of their core players from last year’s tournament team with the ultimate goal of returning to the NCAA’s Big Dance, something that hasn’t been done at Ole Miss since 2002. A return to the NCAA Tournament requires consistent production from their star backcourt. The tandem of senior Breein Tyree and junior Devontae Shuler seems to be one of the best guard duos in the conference. They will also return starter Blake Hinson and last year’s sixth man, K.J. Buffen, who will most likely start at power forward this season.
Hinson will miss the first few games of the season because of a blood abnormality that has kept him out of full practices throughout the semester. The sophomore has not had full contact practice in months, but head coach Kermit Davis said Hinson is feeling good and will go to the doctor for an update on November 1.
“He’s doing everything noncontact… He definitely won’t play against Mississippi College, and I don’t see him playing in the first game against Arkansas State unless something changes, but then after that, we can give you a specific date (for his return),” Davis said.
Hinson and Buffen are two sophomores who played during crucial minutes for the Rebels last season and will be depended on even more this year after the departure of seniors Terence Davis, Bruce Stevens and D.C. Davis, as well as Dominik Olejniczak who transferred to Florida State during the offseason. They will also have expanded roles on the team thanks to the added depth down low this year, headlined by junior transfer Khadim Sy and redshirt freshman Carlos Curry. Both players are significantly bigger than Stevens, a stretch four who was forced to play a significant chunk of minutes at center because of the team’s lack of size. The two players are stronger rebounders and interior defenders than Olejniczak and Stevens.
“(Our size) kind of gives guys more options in terms of positions,” said sophomore Luis Rodriguez. “Now you can move K.J. (Buffen) anywhere now. Last year we weren’t as big in the key, so he was strictly playing the four. This year he’s playing the three, playing some two, he knows multiple positions so you can move him around.”
Rodriguez is also ready for an expanded role and is the most likely successor to Terence Davis at the three. Coach Davis has said that, as of now, Rodriguez is a starter for the team because of his on-ball defense and his ability to be a defensive playmaker while locking down the opposing team’s best wing.
“He’s physical on the ball, but he’s got to get better off the ball,” Davis said. “He can be one of the elite defenders on our team and in our league. He’s got everything: great feet, great strength, athletic, he’s more comfortable in what we’re doing now than he was this time last year.”
Rodriguez was a defensive menace in high school both at Westchester High School in Los Angeles and at Woodstock Academy in Connecticut, where he played his senior season. He has the tools to succeed on that side of the ball, but he must be a more complete offensive player for the Rebels to have a chance at making the tournament again. Last year, he averaged just one point and one rebound in six minutes per game, but says he has worked on his offensive game in the offseason.
“I watched a lot of film of what (Terence Davis) used to do last year and talked to him here and there. I try to mimic everything he did well, you know, just learning from him all year. Last year, he used to kick my butt in practice, and it made me better,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez will be leaned on more heavily in the first few games with the absence of Hinson and has big shoes to fill following the departure of one of the best players to ever lace it up for the Rebels.
