Ole Miss guard Daeshun Ruffin announces he's stepping away from team to regain '100 percent mental and physical health'
The Ole Miss men’s basketball team will be without second-leading scorer Daeshun Ruffin for the foreseeable future. The sophomore guard announced via the team Twitter account that he’s stepping away from the team for a brief period to regain “100 percent mental and physical health.”
Ruffin has appeared in 11 of the 21 games that Ole Miss has played this season. He last played on Jan. 24 against Missouri.
“In hopes of regaining 100 percent mental and physical healthy, I’ve decided to step away from the team and take every action necessary to get well. However, this is not me giving up on the game I love, but simply taking time to return to full health. I look forward to being back with my Ole Miss teammates in the future and giving them and you the very best version of me. Please respect the privacy of my family and me at this time. Thank you all and much love,” Ruffin said, in part, in his written message.
Ruffin is averaging 9.5 points per game, along with 1.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists, per contest.
“I want to begin by saying that I love the University of Mississippi, my teammates, my coaching staff and the Oxford community. My two years here have been nothing short of amazing, and despite my injuries, I’ve built friendships and relationships that will last a lifetime. This decision is me simply putting myself and my future first, alongside my family,” Ruffin said.
Head coach Kermit Davis recently addressed Ruffin’s struggles, point guard options
Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis knows he needs to find an answer at point guard with Daeshun Ruffin struggling of late. The Rebels sophomore saw the least amount of playing time he has all season Tuesday in a 82-73 loss to Auburn with just nine minutes off the bench.
Ruffin finished the game with five points on just 1-of-4 shooting while also turning it over twice in his short time on the floor. Speaking in his postgame press conference, Davis pointed to a lack of confidence from Ruffin, who had a similarly poor shooting performance in the pervious game, going 1-of-8 and fouling out in just 13 minutes against Mississippi State.
“Daeshun right now is not in a great place,” Davis said. “He looks like he’s lost some confidence and he’s got to become a better practice player. He had a good practice yesterday. I think if anything, we talk about his body language. You hear it all the time. (Auburn guard) Wendell Green‘s got unbelievable body language. I love him as an opposing coach just because of his demeanor. The quarterback at Georgia, he’s got this unbelievable persona with body language.
“So I can say, ‘Screw the games, just picture him on a Tuesday at 3 o’clock.’ When he walks through the door and you say, ‘I love seeing that guy.’ He just makes you feel good. So we’ve got to develop a persona and body language at that spot. It is so critical. We work every day and we talk about it all the time. It’s just something we’ve gotta keep working on. They’re all three good guys, but we’ve gotta get better.”