Ole Miss basketball set to face Western Kentucky in hopes of keeping momentum
After a week off to take care of academic responsibilities, the Ole Miss basketball team returns to the court on Saturday.
The Rebels travel to Atlanta to play Western Kentucky at State Farm Arena as part of the Holiday Hoopsgiving event.
This week was a dead week in terms of games as Rebel student-athletes wrapped up the fall semester with final exams. Due to that, there has not been a game played since the Rebels (6-2) beat No. 18 Memphis last Saturday.
Maintaining any possible momentum from that win over the Tigers — which is part of a three-game winning streak — is one of the challenges head coach Kermit Davis has faced.
“You have to do it through practice,” Davis said. “Sometimes players don’t understand that. You just don’t turn it back on. You’ve got to have good, crisp, physical practices.
“When you have a week off like that, I’m sure it’s like football with an off week, I mean practices are critical. For guys to keep making progress and come in with a good spirit and good energy. I think we’ve done that for the most part.”
After a week off, the Rebels resume their schedule in earnest. Starting on Saturday with the Hilltoppers they will play four games in 10 days, which will be the more usual pace for them rest of the season.
This will be only the third meeting between the two teams. Both the Rebels and Hilltoppers (5-4) have split their previous meetings with Ole Miss coming away with a 79-74 win in 2013.
Saturday’s game is a homecoming for a pair of Rebels in Tye Fagan and James White.
Fagan grew up about 90 minutes south of Atlanta in Logtown and White grew up about 30 minutes east of Atlanta in Conyers.
Fagan may have a bigger cheering section than the team as a whole. His family bought their own “family seats” on the floor to watch Fagan play.
“Once the schedule came out and I’d seen that we were going to be playing there, it’s kind of been a big anticipation for me, my family, my friends back home,” Fagan said. “Obviously, my first goal is to win, but I definitely got a little something extra with me. I want to make them proud. I want to play well, but most of all I definitely want to get another win.”
Ole Miss and Western Kentucky are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on the SEC Network.
