Wednesday night in Knoxville, Tenn., we should get a sense of whether the unbeaten, No. 16 Mississippi Rebels (13-0) are for real when they face No. 8 Tennessee (12-1) in the SEC opener for both teams.
Ole Miss already has set a record for consecutive victories, but it hasn't won in Knoxville since 1991, a big reason Tennessee is a solid favorite on WagerWeb.com.
The Rebels were picked to finish last in the SEC West but are one of only two unbeatens remaining in the conference (Vanderbilt) and one of six overall (North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and Washington State).
"Ole Miss looks terrific,' said Vols coach Bruce Pearl.”(Coach) Andy (Kennedy) has done a wonderful job with that basketball team. In the preseason, they were not picked very high, but they are achieving at a
very high level.'
The Rebels look to end an eight-game winless streak at Tennessee, although they beat the Vols at home last season, 83-69.
"I didn't put much stock in that vote then and I don't put much in us having the best record now,' said Kennedy. "I still think Arkansas is the team to beat in the SEC West and Mississippi State and Alabama both are very talented.'
The Rebels have the SEC's only victory over a ranked team, an 85-82 decision over then-No. 15 Clemson in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Ole Miss broke into the Top 25 after that Dec. 22 win."We're still a work in progress," Kennedy said. "I'm proud our guys have worked hard and put us in this position."
Senior center Dwayne Curtis and freshman guard Chris Warren lead the way for Ole Miss, with each averaging 15.2 points for Ole Miss. Curtis averages 8.2 rebounds and Warren an SEC-best 5.7 assists.
Tennessee, meanwhile, has won seven consecutive games since its only defeat, a 97-78 loss to Texas on Nov. 24. The Volunteers' 12-1 non-conference record is their best since the 2000-01 team began 16-1.
Senior guard Chris Lofton is averaging 14.5 points for the Volunteers, just ahead of senior guard JaJuan Smith at 14.4 points per game.
While Lofton still leads Tennessee in scoring, it is well below the 20 ppg he averaged last year while being named an All-American. Pearl says he's not playing as well as he did last season and says it is due to a number of reasons.
"Chris is a little off, but it's more than that,' said Pearl. "Other teams are doing a better job identifying where he is and we have a little better balance this year than we did last year. The last two years, a bad shot for Chris Lofton was a good shot for Tennessee because we didn't have that many other people who could score. But now a bad short by Chris Lofton is a bad shot.
"Part of it, I think, is that all of his life Chris Lofton has been trying to prove he is better than people say he is. Now, they are saying he is an All-American and he may be trying to justify that. But he didn't ask for that. If he had his choice, I think he'd rather be out there trying to prove people he's better than they say.'
The big challenge for Tennessee will be to keep Ole Miss off the boards. The Rebels lead the SEC in rebounding margin at +7.9, while Tennessee ranks 11th among league teams at -2.5.
Both teams like to run. Tennessee leads the SEC in scoring with an 87.4 average, while Ole Miss is third at 86.2.
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