Date: Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Television: Fox Sports Net South
Radio: Sirius 138, XM 192
Mizzou is on a 6-game losing skid that includes an 86-37 loss at Kentucky. It's the perfect set-up for Ole Miss as the Rebels look to put together their first conference winning streak of the season after back-to-back wins over Florida and Mississippi State. At 4-3, Ole Miss is in the thick of the conference race for 2nd place (undefeated Kentucky is running away with 1st).
The only hitch? Ole Miss has never won in Columbia, but these two teams have only played each other 4 times, so that's not a shocking statistic. Plus, if ever there was an Ole Miss team likely to win a road game it's this one. But Rebels beware. Despite Mizzou's record, this is an SEC road game against a team that's tired of losing. Ole Miss has learned its lesson (hopefully) in similar situations against bad teams like South Carolina and Mississippi State in recent years. This experienced group of Rebels felt the sting of losing those games and should know better than to take Mizzou lightly.
Ole Miss was included in the brackets of noted bracketologists Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm this week, and the Rebels would like to stay there. A win would nudge Ole Miss a little higher in RPI (currently No. 51), but you know the drill. A loss to the Tigers (No. 149) would be disastrous.
One of the recent positive developments for the Rebels has been the production of Terence Smith and Anthony Perez off the bench. Their added points give the Stefan Moody, LaDarius White and Jarvis Summers a little margin for error, but it would be nice to see Summers and Moody combine for 40 points today.
When Summers produces, the Rebs generally win.
And Moody, well, he's just fun to watch so it'd be nice to see him explode for 25, too.