Though not selected to dance in the NCAA Tournament this year, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team will compete in this year’s National Invitational Tournament (NIT) starting this Friday, March 19. The Rebels could be without two offensive players as forward KJ Buffen has opted out of the NIT and senior guard Devontae Shuler is currently with his family as his mother recently had surgery.
“KJ Buffen has opted out of the NIT,” head coach Kermit Davis said in a press conference on Wednesday. “I’m just going to leave it at wanting to coach the guys and talk about the guys that want to be in our program. Devontae Shuler flew out. His mother is having surgery in Vegas. Devontae didn’t practice with our team yesterday. We hope to get Devontae back to Dallas to meet us. Depending on what happens with the COVID protocols and getting involved in it, it depends on when he can get back.”
The Rebels were selected to participate in the NIT after being one of the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament. Due to a strong finish to wrap up the season going 8-2, including being undefeated against top-25 opponents, Ole Miss was selected as a No. 1 seed.
Usually, the NIT is played at the higher seed’s home court, and the final four goes to Madison Square Garden in New York City. However, due to COVID-19, the tournament will take place in Texas at two different locations. Teams will either play in the city of Denton’s Super Pit or the city of Frisco’s Comercia Center, home of the NBA G-League team the Texas Legends. The NIT final four and championship game will also be held at the Comercia Center.
This is the Rebels’ 12th appearance in the NIT and their first since 2017 when they advanced to the quarterfinals. The farthest the team has advanced in the tournament was in 2010, when Ole Miss lost in the semifinals to Dayton, the team that went on to win the tournament.
The Rebels will first face the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (21-7), who advanced in the C-USA tournament before eventually losing in the semifinals to eventual champion North Texas.
Both Louisiana Tech’s play style and team build mirror Ole Miss. Louisiana Tech’s key player has been freshman Kenneth Lofton Jr., a power forward who is 6-foot-seven and 275 pounds. Averaging 10 points and seven rebounds a game, Lofton hasn’t disappointed this season, which means senior Rebel Romello White will have to be a force in the paint.
As for the rest of the Rebels, junior Jarkel Joiner will look to carry his momentum from the last game against LSU where the Rebels narrowly lost 76-73 in the SEC Tournament. Joiner shot for his career-best with 26 points and has been averaging over 19 points the last three games for the Rebels. The team will also look to First-Team All-SEC guard Devontae Shuler to control the tempo of the offense and lead the conference’s top-ranked defensive unit if the senior is back in town to play.
Ole Miss tips off its first round in the NIT against Louisiana Tech on Friday, March 19 at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
