Rebels, Dogs set for battle
By By Carver Rayburn / staff writer
Jan. 28, 2003
OXFORD The table is set for Wednesday night at 7 p.m. when the Rebels of Ole Miss (12-4, 3-2) play host to Mississippi State in what should be another classic battle between the two schools.
Mississippi State (12-4, 2-3) is coming off a week of consecutive SEC victories and seem to be back on track after starting out 0-3 in conference play. The Bulldogs are led by junior Mario Austin, who averages 17.2 points per game and Timmy Bowers at14.9 points per game.
Ole Miss head Coach Rod Barnes believes the one-two combination of Austin and Bowers should keep the Rebels hands full come Wednesday .
In order for Ole Miss to defend Austin, Barnes said that his team must limit the number of touches Austin receives on passes inside. If Ole Miss can keep Austin to his average on points scored, and the rest of the team to their averages, then they will have a better chance to upset the No. 22 ranked Bulldogs.
Mississippi State will bring a team shooting 48 percent from the field and averaging 74.6 points per game to Tad Smith Coliseum. For the Rebels, this does not mean much.
The Ole Miss defense is holding opposing teams to just 56.1 points per contest, an average that ranks No. 2 in the nation. Edge to Ole Miss? Not many people realize that the Bulldogs are right behind the Ole Miss in defensive scoring with 61.6 points per game. That's good enough for second in the SEC behind only, Ole Miss.
In the rebounding department, the Bulldogs are pulling down an SEC best 40.6 boards per game. Ole Miss is currently dead last in the SEC pulling down 33.4 rebounds per game. Advantage MSU.
Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury thinks his Bulldogs will be ready to play against a hot Ole Miss squad.
Ole Miss is coming off three straight SEC victories including a road win at then No.23 LSU and a 76-57 thumping of then No.13 Alabama.
Most of the Rebels success has been due to the offensive play of junior Aaron Harper's average of 14.6 points per game.
Harper was named the SEC Player of the Week on Monday for his 28 points against Alabama and 14 points, 8 assists against Arkansas.
Ole Miss has four players that are battling flu-like symptoms. Barnes said that David Sanders, Jonathan Loe and Kendall Granderson are all under the weather and Justin Reed is coughing. Sanders was sick during the Arkansas game but still managed to come off the bench and score 12 points.
Regardless of who's record is what or what team has players out sick, MSU and Ole Miss will always bring their best game to each other.
It should be another close battle between the schools as they duke it out for key positioning in the SEC West race.
