Ole Miss basketball picked up two home wins last week against Kentucky and Vanderbilt, placing the Rebels in the sixth seed for the upcoming SEC Tournament. The Rebels will face off against the No. 11 South Carolina Gamecocks at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday.
“We took off Sunday, and we had great energy yesterday,” head coach Kermit Davis said in a press conference on Tuesday. “It does take some consistency to win 7 out of 9. That’s saying something. It shows the league anybody can beat anybody in this league.”
Heading to Nashville, the Rebels hold a 10-8 conference record and an overall record of 15-10. For the eighth time in the past ten years, the Rebels placed above the media’s preseason polls, as the SEC Preseason Media Poll said Ole Miss would finish in ninth place in the league. The Rebels proved the polls wrong, as the team won seven out of the nine final games on the schedule.
Senior guard Devontae Shuler also received an SEC honor this week, First-Team All-SEC honoree. This makes the guard the 16th Rebel guard to earn the accolade in 15 years and also the third honoree since Kermit Davis became head coach. This also marks the first time Shuler has received the honor.
“It’s a great feeling,” Shuler said in a press conference on Tuesday. “I thank God for the people at Ole Miss who have pushed me. I continue to thank these guys. Mostly, I want to thank God for it.”
During the regular season, Shuler led the team in scoring with 15.6 points per game and assists with 3.3 average points per game. The senior also ranks ninth in steals with 1.5 steals per game, landing in the top-10 in those categories alongside Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr. Shuler also recorded eight 20-point games this season and has helped the team be in consideration for the NCAA berth after winning seven of their past nine games.
Shuler ranks third in career steals with 180, eighth in career three-pointers with 176, tenth in career assists with 321 and 21st in career points with 1,297 in the Ole Miss record books.
“That’s the first time he’s been on a postseason SEC team of any kind,” Davis said. “So deserving. Great teammate. He was excited, and I was excited for him. It was very well-deserved.”
The game against South Carolina will be the ultimate test for the Rebels, as the last time the two teams faced off was on Feb. 13 when the Rebels won 81-74. Shuler recorded 31 points and seven rebounds. Ole Miss also leads in the all-time record against South Carolina 22-20 but falls 5-4 against the Gamecocks in SEC Tournament meetings. The Gamecocks narrowly won 85-84 during the 2018 tournament.
The game between South Carolina and Ole Miss will be played last out of the four games that day, as it’s set to start 25 minutes after the game versus No. 7 Missouri and No. 10 Georgia. No. 3 LSU will be the opponent for the winner of the Rebels’ game.
Tipoff against the Gamecocks is set for 8 p.m. on Thursday in Nashville.
