Davis’ career-high 33 points spark Ole Miss in 96-76 win over LSU
OXFORD, Miss. – Terence Davis feels like he’s starting to come into his own with the regular season winding down and March Madness just around the corner. The Rebels’ sophomore forward also thinks Ole Miss has to win four of its last five games to be in consideration for a bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Davis scored a game and career-high 33 points in the win over LSU. (Photo credit: Mario Parham, The Rebel Walk)
Davis is certainly doing his part to make that happen.
Coming off a 26-point performance last Saturday against Auburn, Davis scored a game-high 33 points against LSU Tuesday night in The Pavilion, leading the Rebels to a 96-76 win over LSU. Twenty-two of his points came in the second half as the Rebels rallied from behind to hand LSU its twelfth straight loss.
Ole Miss (16-10, 7-6 Southeastern Conference) has won six of its last eight SEC games and eight of its last 12 against LSU.
The Rebels ended the game on a 26-7 run after taking the lead at 70-69 off a basket by Marcanvis Hymon. Ole Miss scored the final 17 points of the game, while LSU (9-16, 1-12) went scoreless in the final 4:32.
The Tigers actually held the lead for 25 minutes of the game, pushing their largest advantage to 55-44 off an 8-0 run to start the second half. But after that, LSU couldn’t continue its success on the offensive end, and the Rebels outscored the Tigers 26-14 for the next 10 minutes to give Ole Miss its first lead since the 3:46 mark of the opening half.
After the game, Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy commented on his super sophomore, Davis.
“He’s getting better and better, isn’t he? And he did it in 27 minutes with fouls.”
Andy Kennedy on Terence Davis
For most of the night, LSU did not look like a team that had lost 11 straight games. The Tigers kept up with the Rebels, trading scores on numerous occasions.
But it was Davis, who made 13 of 21 field goals to go along with his six rebounds and four assists, whose timely scoring kept Ole Miss from sinking when the Rebels were behind. His two foul shots plus two layups late in the game helped the Rebels build an 88-76 lead with under two minutes to go.
“I feel pretty good. Basketball is mainly a rhythm game. Once you get a rhythm going, it’s kind of hard to stop that rhythm. So, I feel pretty good.”
Terence Davis
Throughout the game, sophomore guard Antonio Blakeney and freshman guard Skylar Mays lifted LSU each time the Tigers needed a score. Blakeney had 22 points at the break, finishing with 29 points. Mays added 19. Both combined to make 16 of 27 shots from the field. Brandon Sampson added 11 points.
“In the second half, we came back out and we didn’t get in a rhythm scoring, but I thought we were good enough on the defensive end to maintain the lead by getting stops,” said Tigers coach Johnny Jones, who’s now 3-4 in his career against the Rebels.
“Unfortunately as the game played out late, the rhythm wasn’t there for us, we got a little hesitant and allowed them the freedom to play and knock down some big shots there late in the game.”
LSU head coach Johnny Jones
Burnett scored 15 points against LSU in the Rebels’ 96-76 win. (Photo credit: Mario Parham, The Rebel Walk)
In the first half, Ole Miss relied heavily on Davis and Deandre Burnett, who combined to score 23 of the team’s 44 first-half points.
Both teams started hot from three-point range, with Ole Miss making five of its first seven six shots from deep, while LSU made four of its first six.
The Tigers grabbed their biggest lead of the first half at 45-38 after Aaron Epps connected on a 3-point play. The Rebels quickly climbed back into the game with a layup by Burnett then a short jumper by Hymon.
Burnett made two foul shots before halftime to cut the Rebels’ deficit to three, 47-44.
Burnett and Sebastian Saiz finished with 15 points. Cullen Neal added 10.
Other notes
Ole Miss:
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Sebastian Saiz finished with 15 points and needs just 9 rebounds to reach 1000 points/900 rebounds for his career. (Photo credit: Mario Parham, The Rebel Walk)
The Rebels had 21 assists on 33 made field goals.
- Ole Miss made 12 of 27 from 3-point range (44.4%).
- The Rebels committed just 11 turnovers.
- Sebastian Saiz needs just nine rebounds to join Rebel great Murphy Holloway as the only two players in Ole Miss history with 1,000 points and 900 rebounds.
- Ole Miss moves to 11-3 when it plays in white jerseys.
LSU:
- The Tigers won the rebounding battle, 33-29, including 10 offensive boards which led to 11 second-chance points.
- LSU had 19 turnovers, which led to 26 points for Ole Miss.
- The Rebels outscored the Tigers 23-14 in the paint.
- LSU made 8 of 20 from beyond the arc.
Up Next
Ole Miss travels to Arkansas on Saturday (5:00 p.m., SECN).
LSU travels to Alabama on Saturday (2:00 p.m., SECN).
(Feature image credit: Mario Parham, The Rebel Walk)
Courtney Smith
Courtney is from Memphis and received his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Memphis in May of 2014. He began his journalism career covering the Memphis Tigers Men's basketball team, which landed him an intern position on 730 Yahoo Sports Radio and a position with Rivals.com. A freelance writer for the Associated Press, Courtney is also a member of The Rebel Walk team and reports regularly on Ole Miss football and basketball. Courtney, the father of a six-year old girl named Soniyah, prefers to cover NCAA basketball and football, but is happy to report on any other sport that comes his way.
