On Friday, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team will kick off its season under new head coach Matt Insell against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks at 5 p.m.
This game should be viewed as a tune-up for the Lady Rebels, as Jacksonville State went an atrocious 1-27 last season out of the Ohio Valley Conference. Like Ole Miss, Jacksonville State also has a new head coach in Rick Pietri, who was formerly the head coach at South Alabama.
In the exhibition against Christian Brothers, the Rebels struggled to keep the Buccaneers away from the free-throw line as CBU shot 40 free throws. Look for the Rebels to focus this game on the defensive side of the ball to eliminate some of those sloppy fouls.
Impact Players
Ole Miss: Senior point guard Valencia McFarland was named to the preseason All-SEC second team for the second year in a row by the 14 SEC coaches. McFarland enters her senior season ranking second among active SEC players in assists (420) and fifth in points (1,107). Look for McFarland to set the tone early in this game to get her teammates involved.
Jacksonville State: Center Miranda Cantrell is the top returning scorer for the Gamecocks from a season ago. Expect the Rebels to get an early test inside the paint, which is what the Rebels will see a lot of once SEC play kicks in.
Lady Rebs host Central Arkansas Sunday
On Sunday, the Rebels will take on Central Arkansas at 2 p.m.
Central Arkansas, which finished 15-15 last year and is picked to finish sixth in the Southland Conference preseason polls, imposes a bigger threat this weekend to Ole Miss than Jacksonville State.
After the preseason game against CBU, Ole Miss coach Matt Insell said he wanted the tempo to be faster than what it was. With a tougher opponent in store, watch for the Lady Rebels to get their offense at the right pace before the Rebels fly out to Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Classic beginning Nov. 15.
Impact Players
Ole Miss: The Rebels return their top returning scorer from a season ago in junior forward Tia Faleru. In order to get the win, Faleru will be tested in the paint by a good rebounding Central Arkansas team. Faleru can make a huge statement this weekend with a double-double against a big Central Arkansas frontline.
Central Arkansas: Courtney Duever, a 6-foot-1 center, was named to the Southland Conference preseason all-conference first team. Duever returns as the leading rebounder in the conference from a season ago with 8.8 rebounds per game. Last season, Central Arkansas ranked 18th in the nation in rebounding and ranked first in the Southland Conference in offensive rebounds. With the help of Duever, expect Central Arkansas to be competitive on the glass this game.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss women’s basketball, follow @browningstubbs and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Browning Stubbs
