Ole Miss said goodbye to its former home on Friday night, beating Cal State Bakersfield 82-60 in final game plated at Tad Smith Coliseum.
The Rebels now return to their official home, the SJB Pavilion, to host Austin Peay on Tuesday night in Oxford, Miss.
The Rebels (4-0) have been lightly tested thus far, their signature win a six-point victory last Tuesday against a Memphis team that looks like it may be in a down season. Their average margin of victory is 19.8 points, but it’s too early to tell just what of team Ole Miss has.
Friday night’s game didn’t provide much more clarity. Ole Miss trailed just twice for 53 seconds and was never in danger — but also couldn’t run off and hide. It will take time for a playing rotation mostly formed of transfers to cohere and play the game the way coach Chris Beard wants it to be played.
“Everyone associates patience with offense in basketball but when you play against a team trying to control the tempo, you have to be patient on defense,” Beard said after Friday night’s win. “We had to talk with them about being patient on defense at halftime.”
Frenchman Ilias Kamardine leads the Rebels with 16 points per game and Kansas transfer A.J. Storr adds 15.2.
Meanwhile, Austin Peay (3-1) is coming off a 69-63 win Saturday at UNC Greensboro, getting 22 points and nine rebounds from Collin Parker. Sophomore Tate McCubbin is the team’s leading scorer at 16 ppg and freshman Zyree Collins is chipping in 13.8 ppg.
The Governors have been tabbed for a fifth-place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference, with McCubbin named to the preseason all-conference team. He’s looked the part so far, scoring efficiently thanks to a 13 of 31 clip on 3-pointers, and is also leading the team in rebounds and steals.
Ole Miss has won all five previous meetings, including a 92-63 decision on Jan. 3, 2015, in the most recent matchup.
