Head coach Matt Insell speaks to the team during a game earlier this season. DM File Photo
It is father-son part two tonight in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at the Murphy Center.
Ole Miss head coach Matt Insell squares off against his father, Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Insell, for the second time this season as the Rebels take on the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders.
“It is going to be a big crowd. Everyone in the middle Tennessee area is going to be there,” Insell said in the Georgia Tech postgame. “I think they will bring a big crowd, and their fans are really excited about it. We are going to go down there and play basketball. That is just what we do. We have played in front of big crowds, and we’ll be ready to go.”
The win against Georgia Tech on Sunday gave Ole Miss its fourth straight win at the Tad Smith Coliseum and moved the Rebels 3-0 in WNIT games played in Oxford. The win also puts Ole Miss one win away from their first 20-win season since 2006-07. The Rebels moved to 4-5 in WNIT games and 22-22 all-time in postseason games, including a 17-18 overall record in the NCAA Tournament.
Rarely do you see father-son coaching matchups in college basketball. Rick Pitino from Louisville and Richard Pitino from Minnesota faced off last year on the men’s side, but that’s about it.
It’s also rare that you see two father-son coaching matchups in the same season.
The Rebels’ success this postseason has given them a shot at revenge and a chance to advance to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. They dropped the contest on Nov. 23 by a score of 71-65.
Ole Miss is coming off a 63-48 win against Georgia Tech Sunday night. Senior forward Tia Faleru led the Rebels with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Erika Sisk pitched in with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Ole Miss forced 23 turnovers and limited Georgia Tech to 34 percent shooting from the field for the game.
The Blue Raiders (23-9) are coming off a 70-60 victory over Arkansas State in the second round of the WNIT.
Middle Tennessee has two dynamic scorers in sophomore guard Olivia Jones and Cheyenne Parker who average 19.6 and 18.6 points per game respectively and also rebound the ball well, combining for 19.4 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Ty Petty is a factor as well; she averages 11.1 points per game.
They have been key to guiding Rick Insell back to postseason. The trio accounts for 68 percent of the team’s points and score around 72 points per game. Middle Tennessee has done a good job of suffocating their opponent’s offenses, limiting them to 59 points per game.
In the first game of the WNIT, Ole Miss put together a collective effort from everybody to seal the win over UT-Martin. Veterans Faleru, Sisk and senior forward Danielle McCray drove the team against Georgia Tech. In this next round, as long as Faleru is on her game, the Rebels may have revenge against the Blue Raiders, and Insell may just get a win over his father.
