Kermit Davis shares injury news on James White, sets timetable

Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis has good news after guard James White missed Tuesday’s game against Georgia due to injury. Davis revealed in his postgame press conference that it was a minor ankle injury and he expects White to return for Saturday’s game against South Carolina.

“At the last practice yesterday in the last 30 minutes he turned his ankle pretty bad and got some swelling,” the coach said. “Obviously, James wanted to play coming back to Georgia but he couldn’t. He tried today, but he couldn’t. I think he’ll be ready for South Carolina.”

A Georgia native, White is in his second season with the Rebels. He has appeared in 21 games, even starting three, and is averaging 2.8 points across 11.3 minutes.

Ole Miss managed to defeat the Bulldogs 78-74 on Tuesday to snap a five-game losing streak and improve to 10-14 (2-9 SEC). They’ll look to keep the good momentum going as James White likely returns from his injury against the Gamecocks at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Kermit Davis addresses Ole Miss’ struggles this season

Prior to the win against Georgia, Ole Miss had lost 11 of its past 12 games. However, the recent victory provide a glimmer of hope they can turn things around.

Things might seem bleak for the Rebels right now, but Davis believes hard work will eventually pay off.

“It’s just about getting through difficult things. It has been for two years. We haven’t had a lot of great luck happen with Ole Miss basketball, but the league is unforgiving and has great coaches just like [John Calipari] and Jerry Stackhouse, they just keep coming,” Davis said postgame. “There are some really good teams.

“I’m just so proud of our players, proud of our staff. We’re working at it day and night. As I said, we’re fighting for two people — I feel for our players and I feel for our fans. Those are the two people I feel for and we want better than what’s going on at Ole Miss.”

With seven games still on the docket, a string of wins could mean the difference between playing on day one of the SEC Tournament vs. playing on day two.