Ole Miss plays host to Tennessee tonight at 8 at the SJB Pavilion. The game can be seen on television on ESPN2 with Reece Davis and Jimmy Dykes on the call.
It's a game for seeding and pride. Both teams are locks for the NCAA Tournament later this month.
Ole Miss is firmly in the field with 20 wins, including nine in SEC play. Ole Miss is projected as high as a six seed by CBS, and as low as an eight seed by ESPN. NCAA and Bleacher Report agree on the Rebs right in the middle as No. 7 seed.
If the SEC Tournament, which begins in one week in Nashville, began today, Tennessee would get a double-bye as the No. 4 seed. Ole Miss would be the No. 7 seed and await the winner Vanderbilt-LSU. The Rebels can clinch a first-round bye tonight with a win over the Volunteers. Should Ole Miss lose tonight and lose again on Saturday at Florida, the Rebels could fall as low as No. 10 in Nashville, depending what happens with Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. The Rebels can't get above the 7-seed in Nashville and can't fall below 10.
It's also Senior Night and while Ole Miss has a lot of seniors, two stick out in my mind. Matthew Murrell is a unicorn in the modern game. He signed with Ole Miss five years ago and, despite changes and adversity in the program, stayed in Oxford. He's battled injuries this season but he's going to end his career in the NCAA Tournament. Murrell is in his fifth season with Ole Miss and continues to put his name up and down the program record book. The Memphis native currently ranks eighth in school history in career points with 1,719, and fourth in three-point shots made (252) and three-point attempts (717). He also ranks ninth in most field goal attempts at 1,402, and is sixth in career steals with 167.
Murrell recently became the program's all-time leader in games played and minutes played. On January 22, Murrell passed Zach Graham at 135 games played for Ole Miss, and has since pushed his number to 146. At South Carolina on February 12, he surpassed Elston Turner for the most minutes played in a Rebel uniform, now with 4,231 minutes on the court for Ole Miss.
The other is Jaemyn Brakefield. The Duke transfer has been the heart and soul of the Rebels' program over the past two seasons. He's just an excellent human, a hard-working, respectful, consummate pro. He has international basketball ahead of him, I suspect, but as with Murrell, it's fitting he'll play his final game in an Ole Miss uniform in the NCAA Tournament.
As for tonight's game, Tennessee holds a season record of 24-5 overall, having gone 11-5 in conference action. They opened their year with an undefeated non-conference slate, picking up wins over Louisville, Virginia, No. 13 Baylor, Syracuse, Miami, and Illinois. The Volunteers are coming off a game-winning-shot victory over No. 6 Alabama this past weekend. They currently sit in fourth in the SEC Standings, and own a NET Ranking of No. 5, and sit in fourth in both national polls.
The Vols are led offensively by Chaz Lanier, who ranks fifth in the SEC with an average of 17.8 points per game. A big part of his game has been the three-point shot this season, as he leads the SEC with an average of 3.4 makes from deep per game, ranking third in the conference with a shooting percentage of 40.7 from beyond the arc. Their offense is orchestrated by senior point guard Zakai Zeigler, who for the second year in a row eclipsed 200 assists, and is averaging an SEC-best 7.2 assists per game.
Much of Tennessee's success this season has come from their suffocating defensive efforts. The Volunteers rank second in the country in both field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense, holding their foes to 37.4 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from deep. Their average points allowed per game of 61.3 ranks seventh in the nation. They lead the SEC in each of those three defensive stats.
The SEC was volatile last night, with Texas A&M knocking off Auburn, Arkansas winning at Vanderbilt and Texas winning at Mississippi State. Here are your updated NET ratings:
Auburn 2
Florida 4
Tennessee 5
Alabama 6
Kentucky 12
Missouri 15
Texas A&M 20
Ole Miss 28
Georgia 32
Mississippi State 33
Arkansas 39
Texas 41
Vanderbilt 43
Oklahoma 50
LSU 84
South Carolina 88
We can debate for another 10 days or so, but the league is getting 13-14 teams into the NCAA Tournament. The metrics demand it.
Some thoughts:
-- Senior Nights are special. Texas A&M honored one of my favorite all-time SEC players, Wade Taylor IV, last night.
Teams are hard to beat on Senior Night. Bruce Pearl denied that Auburn looked past the Aggies after wrapping up the conference championship this weekend. He said their struggles were simply a matter of A&M playing better Tuesday night.
"They physically manhandled us," he said. "And if this team is going to continue to win, we're going to run up against teams like Texas A&M or like Florida or like Duke that are big and physical."
The Aggies entered the game leading the nation in offensive rebounding and Pearl pointed to their 24-9 advantage in this game as evidence of their physicality.
"We have no excuses to allow those guys to get 24 offensive rebounds," he said. "I give Texas A&M all the credit. Our guys were physically dominated. ... So no, I don't excuse our guys at all. We're better than that, but not tonight."
Hearing Pearl's comments about the Aggies meant a lot to Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, who said physicality and communication are the two most important things he tries to teach.
"We have to play incredibly physical, and I think we have to do a lot of the things that are not necessarily in the stat sheet for us to win," Williams said.
As for Taylor, he had 16 points in his final game in College Station.
"We built this program from what it was before we got here to what it is now, and Coach wanted to put us out there because he knew that we had a lot to play for, and we came out with the win," Taylor said. "I'm thankful for those guys. We've been through a lot together -- the ups, the down, the bad, the ugly, and to get this win on Senior Night with our last time playing on this court meant everything."
-- My guy Tre Johnson went for 23 points in 43 minutes last night in Texas' win in Starkville. He's fast playing his way into the upper half of the NBA Draft Lottery, but if the NBA season ended today, my Thunder would have two lottery picks (Philadelphia, Clippers) and their own pick. Hey, OKC could package those picks, throw in Ousmane Dieng and move up 3, 4 or 5 and add another 6-foot-6 wing with playmaking skills to the roster. A man can dream.
Other games tonight:
Florida at Alabama 6 p.m., ESPN2
Missouri at Oklahoma 7 p.m., SEC Network
It's a game for seeding and pride. Both teams are locks for the NCAA Tournament later this month.
Ole Miss is firmly in the field with 20 wins, including nine in SEC play. Ole Miss is projected as high as a six seed by CBS, and as low as an eight seed by ESPN. NCAA and Bleacher Report agree on the Rebs right in the middle as No. 7 seed.
If the SEC Tournament, which begins in one week in Nashville, began today, Tennessee would get a double-bye as the No. 4 seed. Ole Miss would be the No. 7 seed and await the winner Vanderbilt-LSU. The Rebels can clinch a first-round bye tonight with a win over the Volunteers. Should Ole Miss lose tonight and lose again on Saturday at Florida, the Rebels could fall as low as No. 10 in Nashville, depending what happens with Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. The Rebels can't get above the 7-seed in Nashville and can't fall below 10.
It's also Senior Night and while Ole Miss has a lot of seniors, two stick out in my mind. Matthew Murrell is a unicorn in the modern game. He signed with Ole Miss five years ago and, despite changes and adversity in the program, stayed in Oxford. He's battled injuries this season but he's going to end his career in the NCAA Tournament. Murrell is in his fifth season with Ole Miss and continues to put his name up and down the program record book. The Memphis native currently ranks eighth in school history in career points with 1,719, and fourth in three-point shots made (252) and three-point attempts (717). He also ranks ninth in most field goal attempts at 1,402, and is sixth in career steals with 167.
Murrell recently became the program's all-time leader in games played and minutes played. On January 22, Murrell passed Zach Graham at 135 games played for Ole Miss, and has since pushed his number to 146. At South Carolina on February 12, he surpassed Elston Turner for the most minutes played in a Rebel uniform, now with 4,231 minutes on the court for Ole Miss.
The other is Jaemyn Brakefield. The Duke transfer has been the heart and soul of the Rebels' program over the past two seasons. He's just an excellent human, a hard-working, respectful, consummate pro. He has international basketball ahead of him, I suspect, but as with Murrell, it's fitting he'll play his final game in an Ole Miss uniform in the NCAA Tournament.
As for tonight's game, Tennessee holds a season record of 24-5 overall, having gone 11-5 in conference action. They opened their year with an undefeated non-conference slate, picking up wins over Louisville, Virginia, No. 13 Baylor, Syracuse, Miami, and Illinois. The Volunteers are coming off a game-winning-shot victory over No. 6 Alabama this past weekend. They currently sit in fourth in the SEC Standings, and own a NET Ranking of No. 5, and sit in fourth in both national polls.
The Vols are led offensively by Chaz Lanier, who ranks fifth in the SEC with an average of 17.8 points per game. A big part of his game has been the three-point shot this season, as he leads the SEC with an average of 3.4 makes from deep per game, ranking third in the conference with a shooting percentage of 40.7 from beyond the arc. Their offense is orchestrated by senior point guard Zakai Zeigler, who for the second year in a row eclipsed 200 assists, and is averaging an SEC-best 7.2 assists per game.
Much of Tennessee's success this season has come from their suffocating defensive efforts. The Volunteers rank second in the country in both field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense, holding their foes to 37.4 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from deep. Their average points allowed per game of 61.3 ranks seventh in the nation. They lead the SEC in each of those three defensive stats.
The SEC was volatile last night, with Texas A&M knocking off Auburn, Arkansas winning at Vanderbilt and Texas winning at Mississippi State. Here are your updated NET ratings:
Auburn 2
Florida 4
Tennessee 5
Alabama 6
Kentucky 12
Missouri 15
Texas A&M 20
Ole Miss 28
Georgia 32
Mississippi State 33
Arkansas 39
Texas 41
Vanderbilt 43
Oklahoma 50
LSU 84
South Carolina 88
We can debate for another 10 days or so, but the league is getting 13-14 teams into the NCAA Tournament. The metrics demand it.
Some thoughts:
-- Senior Nights are special. Texas A&M honored one of my favorite all-time SEC players, Wade Taylor IV, last night.
Teams are hard to beat on Senior Night. Bruce Pearl denied that Auburn looked past the Aggies after wrapping up the conference championship this weekend. He said their struggles were simply a matter of A&M playing better Tuesday night.
"They physically manhandled us," he said. "And if this team is going to continue to win, we're going to run up against teams like Texas A&M or like Florida or like Duke that are big and physical."
The Aggies entered the game leading the nation in offensive rebounding and Pearl pointed to their 24-9 advantage in this game as evidence of their physicality.
"We have no excuses to allow those guys to get 24 offensive rebounds," he said. "I give Texas A&M all the credit. Our guys were physically dominated. ... So no, I don't excuse our guys at all. We're better than that, but not tonight."
Hearing Pearl's comments about the Aggies meant a lot to Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, who said physicality and communication are the two most important things he tries to teach.
"We have to play incredibly physical, and I think we have to do a lot of the things that are not necessarily in the stat sheet for us to win," Williams said.
As for Taylor, he had 16 points in his final game in College Station.
"We built this program from what it was before we got here to what it is now, and Coach wanted to put us out there because he knew that we had a lot to play for, and we came out with the win," Taylor said. "I'm thankful for those guys. We've been through a lot together -- the ups, the down, the bad, the ugly, and to get this win on Senior Night with our last time playing on this court meant everything."
-- My guy Tre Johnson went for 23 points in 43 minutes last night in Texas' win in Starkville. He's fast playing his way into the upper half of the NBA Draft Lottery, but if the NBA season ended today, my Thunder would have two lottery picks (Philadelphia, Clippers) and their own pick. Hey, OKC could package those picks, throw in Ousmane Dieng and move up 3, 4 or 5 and add another 6-foot-6 wing with playmaking skills to the roster. A man can dream.
Other games tonight:
Florida at Alabama 6 p.m., ESPN2
Missouri at Oklahoma 7 p.m., SEC Network
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