Kermit Davis on Kentucky's national championship potential, Oscar Tshiebwe's greatness

It’s been a rough year for the Ole Miss Rebels. Kermit Davis’ squad has battled illness and injuries, the biggest being star freshman Daeshun Ruffin‘s season-ending knee injury a month ago. Despite all of that adversity, the Rebels gave the Cats all they wanted and more on Senior Night at Rupp Arena. Kentucky was up by 14 with six minutes left, but Ole Miss cut that lead to six with two minutes remaining. After Kentucky’s eventual 83-72 victory, Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis praised his guys for turning in one of their best offensive outings against a team he believes can win it all.

“I thought our team played with great urgency and played good offense all game. At times, we got that thing back to about six in the second half, we couldn’t keep (Sahvir) Wheeler out of the paint. But I thought we ran good offense and obviously Matt (Matthew Murrell) was really good. Thought Nys (Nysier Brooks) really fought it. Not great early but really got his footing and then played better.”

Murrell finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-16 from the floor 5-8 from three. Brooks was the only other Rebel in double figures with 14 points and 5 rebounds, holding his own against Oscar Tshiebwe in the paint. Regardless, Davis said Wheeler’s ability to get to the basket and surprising touch from the outside combined with the Rupp Arena crowd was too much.

“They’re just great on Senior Night. They’ve been this way for 100 years and they made shots. Wheeler made shots. But we had that thing to a six-point game then the illegal screen call at the end. It was a big call, whether we win or not but to maybe get that thing kind of close at the end. But credit our guys. I was proud of them and no moral victories but hats off to Kentucky. They’re a team that can win the national championship for sure.”

“(Oscar) Tshiebwe is just special”

Seven-foot center Nysier Brooks challenged Oscar Tshiebwe in the paint, to the point John Calipari called out his big man for letting the Rebels bully him. However, as has been the case all season, the fact that Oscar finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds — his 12th straight double-double — on just an “average” night speaks volumes. Oscar is now third on Kentucky’s all-time single-season rebounding list with 460, behind Bill Spivey (567) and Cliff Hagan (528).

“(Oscar) Tshiebwe is just special,” Davis said. “He just expanded his game. Obviously, he made three or four 15-16 footers. He’s just got such strong hands. I thought Nys (Nysier Brooks) battled. Nys didn’t get a defensive rebound. He got five offensive rebounds, but Tshiebwe was 18 and 15. He only had five at the half and he had 13 rebounds in the second half.

“[Oscar] is about winning. What separates him from a lot of big bigs around the country is his conditioning and toughness. He’s just got such mental toughness when he is faced with fatigue.”

Yet another reason the National Player of the Year trophy should be his.