Davis confident Rebels' rebuild will happen in time

OXFORD • After making the NCAA tournament last season, Kermit Davis is trying to help his Ole Miss basketball team find one of competition’s most elusive gems – consistency.

The Rebels have dropped four straight as they take on SEC unbeaten LSU tonight at 7 at The Pavilion. The game will air on ESPN2.

Ole Miss (9-7, 0-3 SEC) has surpassed 57 points just once in its current skid as the Rebels have twice lost double-digit, second-half leads.

Ole Miss is coming off a 71-57 loss at Florida on Tuesday when it played without two starters, leading scorer Breein Tyree because of injury and center Khadim Sy because for falling out of favor with Davis.

Both are expected to play against the Tigers (12-4, 4-0) though Tyree (back pain) may be at less than full strength.

Davis met with Sy on Wednesday and said his response has been good. Sy didn’t make the Florida trip, Davis said, because of how he handled himself in the previous game against Arkansas.

“Just the body language,” Davis said. “The standards, the culture of what we’re trying to get to … he didn’t really meet those.”

Collectively, the Rebels aren’t meeting the wins and losses standard Davis expects for the program over the long haul. He’s disappointed, but not really surprised by that.

His debut season was ahead of schedule with guard in Terence Davis, who’s now impacting an NBA roster with the defending league champion Toronto Raptors.

Davis says his team’s mental make-up has been good and sees the Sy suspension as an isolated incident.

The problem comes from a combination of roster depth – just four who played last season are still around – and the fact that freshmen haven’t quickly acclimated to new surroundings.

“As you go along, I don’t call them mistakes, but maybe guys aren’t where you thought they would be right now. Sometimes it takes time,” Davis said. “It doesn’t make them bad players, but our roster depth, you see it, how many guys can actually impact games.”

Davis cited several ranked college basketball teams – including No. 4 Auburn – and the steps required gain consistency. Bruce Pearl didn’t have a winning conference record until his fourth season at Auburn.

“We’re going to keep developing, and we’re recruiting like crazy every single day for next year and the year after,” Davis said. “Eventually we’re going to get to where we want to get.”

SOURCE: Alford, Parrish. "Davis confident Rebels' rebuild will happen in time." Daily Journal, 18 January 2020, https://www.djournal.com/sports/davis-confident-rebels-rebuild-will-happen-in-time/article_b7e4b8fa-3155-51f3-a692-f0eb1f0dc649.html

parrish.alford@journalinc.com
Twitter: @parrishalford