Seaon record: 4-3 +1.7 UNITS
Mississippi (-1.5) at George Mason - 4:00pm
Rebels bring in a quality SEC team into Fairfax, VA this evening. Mississippi returns 4 starters, including top three scorers and top four rebounders from last seasons 20 win NCAA tournament team. The heart of the team labeled "Provine Posse" is junior small forward Aaron Harper (11.9ppg last year), junior power forward Justin Reed (14.6ppg, 6.6rpg last year), and senior guard David Sanders (12.5ppg last year). The trio were all high school teammates at Provine High School in Jackson, MS. This enables them to play very well together. Senior forward Derrick Allen (8.9ppg, 5.9rpg) is also back at starting forward. 6-10 junior center John Gunn is finally back at 100% after two injury marred seasons and recorded a career high with 16 points in last game vs Alabama State. Freshman point guard Trey Pearson (4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio through two games) has assumed the starting point guard job. Senior guard Emmanuel Wade (7.0ppg last year) is more than capable of playing starter quality minutes.
Ole Miss started the season with a tough loss at upstart East Carolina (6 straight home wins dating back to last season, including win over Marquette) who will be tough to beat at home all season. Rebels rebounded with a 16 point home win over Alabama State last time out. These two teams met last season in Oxford with George Mason pulling off a 71-70 major upset win. The Patriots got 23 from senior Rob Anderson who has since graduated. The one point win snapped a 44 game non-conference home win streak (2nd longest in the country at the time). Rebels will certainly want to avenge last years embarrassing loss tonight.
In addition to the loss of starter Anderson, the Patriots have suffered through some attrition in the preseason. Most notably super sophomore guard Lamar Butler who is currently ineligible. Butler was conference newcomer of the year runner up last season averaging 10.4ppg as the starting off guard. His outside shooting is sorely missed right now as opponents in the early going have been able to pack in the defense to focus on junior center Jesse Young who led the team in scoring last year. Young has struggled in the early going averaging just 4.5ppg on 3 of 10 shooting in two games. GM is accustomed to having a deep team but is basically using just a seven man rotation right now, three of which are first year Division 1 players. The Patriots lost by 3 at Central Michigan (did not score final 4 minutes of game) and by 9 at Southern Illinois (trailed start to finish). JC transfer Mark Davis is currently leading scorer at 23.0ppg but has been criticized for his aggressive selfish play (0 assists in two games). GM has only averaged 8 assists per game overall. Ole Miss has averaged 16 assists per game. It may be a while before this team finds itself.
Ole Miss is 30-5 (.857) in games played in November since 1990. They are 6-0 the weekend after Thanksgiving under head coach Barnes which includes five games away from home. The Rebels are always an underrated team early in the season and always play solid defense (first two opponents shot combined 39.3%). Give the small number.
Mississippi 1 UNIT
Good luck,
Edward
Mississippi (-1.5) at George Mason - 4:00pm
Rebels bring in a quality SEC team into Fairfax, VA this evening. Mississippi returns 4 starters, including top three scorers and top four rebounders from last seasons 20 win NCAA tournament team. The heart of the team labeled "Provine Posse" is junior small forward Aaron Harper (11.9ppg last year), junior power forward Justin Reed (14.6ppg, 6.6rpg last year), and senior guard David Sanders (12.5ppg last year). The trio were all high school teammates at Provine High School in Jackson, MS. This enables them to play very well together. Senior forward Derrick Allen (8.9ppg, 5.9rpg) is also back at starting forward. 6-10 junior center John Gunn is finally back at 100% after two injury marred seasons and recorded a career high with 16 points in last game vs Alabama State. Freshman point guard Trey Pearson (4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio through two games) has assumed the starting point guard job. Senior guard Emmanuel Wade (7.0ppg last year) is more than capable of playing starter quality minutes.
Ole Miss started the season with a tough loss at upstart East Carolina (6 straight home wins dating back to last season, including win over Marquette) who will be tough to beat at home all season. Rebels rebounded with a 16 point home win over Alabama State last time out. These two teams met last season in Oxford with George Mason pulling off a 71-70 major upset win. The Patriots got 23 from senior Rob Anderson who has since graduated. The one point win snapped a 44 game non-conference home win streak (2nd longest in the country at the time). Rebels will certainly want to avenge last years embarrassing loss tonight.
In addition to the loss of starter Anderson, the Patriots have suffered through some attrition in the preseason. Most notably super sophomore guard Lamar Butler who is currently ineligible. Butler was conference newcomer of the year runner up last season averaging 10.4ppg as the starting off guard. His outside shooting is sorely missed right now as opponents in the early going have been able to pack in the defense to focus on junior center Jesse Young who led the team in scoring last year. Young has struggled in the early going averaging just 4.5ppg on 3 of 10 shooting in two games. GM is accustomed to having a deep team but is basically using just a seven man rotation right now, three of which are first year Division 1 players. The Patriots lost by 3 at Central Michigan (did not score final 4 minutes of game) and by 9 at Southern Illinois (trailed start to finish). JC transfer Mark Davis is currently leading scorer at 23.0ppg but has been criticized for his aggressive selfish play (0 assists in two games). GM has only averaged 8 assists per game overall. Ole Miss has averaged 16 assists per game. It may be a while before this team finds itself.
Ole Miss is 30-5 (.857) in games played in November since 1990. They are 6-0 the weekend after Thanksgiving under head coach Barnes which includes five games away from home. The Rebels are always an underrated team early in the season and always play solid defense (first two opponents shot combined 39.3%). Give the small number.
Mississippi 1 UNIT
Good luck,
Edward
