Ole Miss basketball has seen its fair share of ups and downs this year. After a strong start to the season, including a Paradise Jam finals appearance against Big East powerhouse Creighton, the Rebels opened SEC play Dec. 29 with a 99-76 loss against No. 5 Kentucky. Led by Malik Monk’s 34 points, the Wildcats controlled the game early and never let go.
Just five days later, the Rebels traveled to Gainesville to face No. 24 Florida. After cutting a 15-point lead down to six, Ole Miss ultimately could not complete the comeback and was handed its second SEC loss (70-63).
The Rebels’ schedule did not get any easier with an away game at Auburn up next. Head Coach Andy Kennedy’s men rose to the occasion and fought hard for an 88-85 victory. Ole Miss shared the ball well; six out of eight active players had scoring totals in the double digits. It was certainly a crucial win for the Rebels in the middle of a tough stretch of games.
That momentum, however, would be short lived. After returning to Oxford on the 11th and suffering a 69-47 loss to Georgia, the Rebels packed their bags and headed to Columbia, South Carolina. After a hotly contested first half, they gradually faded and were handed their third road loss of the season by USC (67-56).
Terence Davis dribbles the ball towards the basket during Ole Miss’ mens basketball’s victory over the Tennessee Volunteers 80-69 at the Pavilion on Tues., Jan. 17, 2017.
With those games still fresh in their minds, the team headed home and prepared to face Tennessee on the 17th. Without Burnett, who went down with a leg injury during the Georgia game, the Rebels looked stale and Tennessee commanded, at times, a lead of up to 13 points. Then, with approximately 17 minutes left in the second half, senior Rasheed Brooks collapsed on the sideline during a timeout.
“Before we went to the huddle he was like, ‘Bro, I’m cramping, I’m cramping.’ I told him, ‘Bro, you got to drink. You got to drink.’ When we went to the huddle, coach said something to Sheed, but then he turned his back. All you see is Sheed; he started twitching or whatever. Then he fell on the ground, and I was like ‘Oh my God,’” Terrance Davis said.
The Pavilion fell silent as Brooks, one of only two seniors on the roster, was stretchered off the court and rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital. Perhaps more than anyone else, sophomore shooting guard Davis immediately understood the gravity of the situation.
“I know what’s going on because my sister, when she was younger she used to have seizures, two or three when she was younger,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘Get his tongue. Get his tongue.’ If his tongue goes back and he swallows it, he could possibly die. They were telling me, ‘Get back,’ and I was like, ‘No, I’m not leaving him.’ They pulled me back. It was crazy.”
The team was able to rally around Brooks’ early exit and finished the game was with an energy unlike that of the first half. By the time the whistle finally blew, the Rebels had completely turned the tide and won 80-69. The players immediately went to check on Brooks and were relieved to find him in stable condition by the end of the night.
That energy carried over into Saturday’s 75-71 win over Mizzou. Now, with momentum on their side, the Rebels are entering a stretch of must-win games. Texas A&M, No. 6 Baylor and Mississippi State at home followed by an away game at Vanderbilt loom large but Kennedy has made it clear that wins are necessary if the team wants to make the tournament.
“These next two games are must-win games. We’ve got to win them. We all have agreed as a team that these are must-win games. We’ve got to get these two,” Davis said. “If you want to be an NCAA tournament team, you’ve got to pull some out.”
