Rebels Take Show on the Road

The Ole Miss basketball team hit the road today as they traveled to Orlando to take on the University of Central Florida. The Knights are 4-3 on the season and an average team. However it will be a strong test for the Rebels and the freshmen on the team, as this is the first road game for the Rebels this season.

There are several Rebels from the Orlando area so there should be a strong base of Ole Miss fans in attendance. I am very interested to see how this game turns out and think it is a great game for the team to be playing at this part of the season.

(Notes from UMAA)

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS UCF has turned a challenging schedule into a 4-3 record to open the season. The Knights won their opening game against Nevada. After dropping games to nationally ranked Villanova and Kansas State squads at the Old Spice Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., the Knights upended Penn State 70-59 to close out the tourney. UCF most recenlty lost to USF 75-67 in its first true road game of the year. The Knights average 71.0 points per game, led by junior guard Jermaine Taylor’s 17.4 ppg. The team plays in the brand new UCF Arena that holds 10,000. Kirk Speraw is in his 15th year as the head coach of the Knights and has guided them to an average of 21 wins over the past five years. He has also led the team to four NCAA Tournaments (‘94, ‘96, ‘04, ‘05).

OLE MISS-UCF SERIES The Rebels and Knights will be meeting for the first time on the hardcourt.

HOMECOMING FOR SEVERAL REBELS Ole Miss has a very strong Sunshine State presence with five players that either hail from or played high school in the state of Florida. Sophomore guard Eniel Polynice is a Sarasota native, while senior forward Kenny Williams is from Miami and played two seasons at St. Petersburg Junior College, and freshman point guard Chris Warren hails from Orlando. A pair of Caribbean natives played high school ball in Florida, including sophomore Puerto Rican David Huertas (Arlington Country Day HS - Jacksonville; University of Florida) and freshman Kevin Cantinol (Calvary Christian HS - Clearwater) from the island of Martinique in the French West Indies.

STRONG START Ole Miss has won six straight to open the 2007-08 campaign, the best start since the 2000-01 team reeled off 11 straight victories en route to a school-record 27 wins and an NCAA Tournament “Sweet Sixteen” Appearance. The last time Ole Miss won six or more games in a row was Dec. 19, 2005-Jan. 14, 2006 when the Rebels won seven straight.