Missouri Tigers basketball at Ole Miss Rebels: Prediction, TV, lineups, betting line
THE DETAILS
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: The Pavilion at Ole Miss, Oxford, Mississippi
TV: SEC Network
Betting line: Missouri by 1
Radio: KMBZ (98.1 FM)
PROJECTED LINEUPS
P | No. | Ole Miss | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 0 | Romello White | 6-8 | Gr. | 11.1 |
F | 21 | Robert Allen | 6-8 | Jr. | 4.1 |
G | 15 | Luis Rodriguez | 6-6 | So. | 7.5 |
G | 2 | Devontae Shuler | 6-2 | Sr. | 15.5 |
G | 24 | Jarkel Joiner | 6-1 | Jr. | 10.7 |
P | No. | Missouri | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 23 | Jeremiah Tilmon | 6-10 | Sr. | 13.3 |
F | 24 | Kobe Brown | 6-7 | So. | 6.6 |
G | 13 | Mark Smith | 6-5 | Sr. | 10.6 |
G | 1 | Xavier Pinson | 6-2 | Jr. | 14.7 |
G | 12 | Dru Smith | 6-3 | Sr. | 14.0 |
PREDICTION
About Ole Miss (10-8, 5-6 SEC): The Rebels are winners of their last two, both impressive victories over Tennessee and Auburn. It’s vaulted them up to a potential NCAA Tournament team, though there’s still plenty of work left to do. Ole Miss has excelled on the defensive end, especially forcing turnovers and mixing up coverages. Senior guard Devontae Shuler has led the team in scoring, but the emergence of Romello White, who scored 30 against Auburn, has been important. KenPom has them No. 65.
About No. 10 Missouri (13-3, 6-3 SEC): The Tigers are second in the SEC, fresh off downing first-place Alabama. They’ve won six of their past seven games and appear to have found their stride after some early inconsistency. Mizzou’s looking to find a few more wins to boost its resume, but the Tigers are firmly an NCAA Tournament team. MU coach Cuonzo Martin is also one win away from 250 for his coaching career. KenPom ranks them No. 29.
Prediction: Mizzou has shown more than enough competency to take care of the ball for spurts this season, but it’s no question the Tigers have struggled to keep turnovers down. That could prove to be a struggle against an Ole Miss team that leads the SEC in forcing turnovers. The Rebels mix zone looks, which is why they’ve been so pesky on the defensive end of the court. While the offense has lagged behind, Ole Miss’ defense could give the Tigers fits if they’re being careless.
It’ll take a team effort, as well, to keep offensive rebounds down for Ole Miss. The Rebels feast on second-chance opportunities and if the Tigers are outrebounded, they could be in for a long night. That’s where a guy like MU forward Jeremiah Tilmon comes in, but rebounding is a team effort and one big man can’t be responsible for all of those duties.
We’ll say the Rebels come out pesky, even taking a healthy lead. But the Tigers storm back from there to take a double-digit that looks like they’ll run away with the game. But Ole Miss has come back from a big deficit the past two games, so they come right back to make it interesting. In the end, the Tigers’ execution brings them to a win over the Rebels.
Missouri 71, Ole Miss 65