“Summers leads Rebels past Fightin’ Okra, 96-48” by Taylor Rayburn

Photograph by Newt Rayburn – The Local Voice.

Ole Miss scored 54 points off 29 turnovers and senior Jarvis Summers led the Rebels with 16 points in a blow out of Delta State at Oxford on Friday. The exhibition contest between the two schools allowed for all 12 available Ole Miss players to score.

A slow start for the Rebels found the squad trailing 14-11 early before a 30-4 run gave Ole Miss a comfortable 50-26 lead at halftime.

Photograph by Newt Rayburn – The Local Voice.

Summers, a Jackson native connected on six of 10 field goals with one three pointer and was followed in scoring by two transfers, Stefan Moody from FAU and Roderick Lawrence from South Plains College.

Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said that one of the focuses before the game was rebounding. Sebastian Saiz didn’t disappoint. The sophomore from Madrid pulled down 14 rebounds.

“It was mission accomplished for us,” Kennedy said. “It was a dress rehearsal, and we got a lot of guys a lot of minutes. Jarvis (Summers) has been nursing a high-ankle sprain, and he’s only been back about a week. He played better and started getting a little pop back. I was able to play a lot of the new guys a lot of minutes.”

Photograph by Newt Rayburn – The Local Voice.

The Rebels shot 51 percent from the field compared to Delta State’s 45 percent. Both teams were tied for rebounds at 34. However, the game changing stat was turnovers. The Rebels only had 11 turnovers, while they forced 29 turnovers from the Statesmen. The Rebels scored over half their points off turnovers coming in with 54 points off turnovers, compared to Delta State who could only muster six points off of turnovers.

The night was rather uneventful; no huge slam dunks or behind the back passes. While there was one highlight that stood out, a bearded Rebel fan in the student section heckled the Delta State coach relentlessly throughout the night asking him to get off “his” court. Props to you, bearded heckler.

Photograph by Newt Rayburn – The Local Voice.

The Rebels play Charleston Southern in its season opener at Tad Smith Coliseum at 6:00 pm on November 14th. The Rebels will remain without Aaron Jones, a 6-9 230 pound senior, who is serving out a two game suspension to begin the season. Kennedy says that if Jones does what he is supposed to, he should be back for the Emerald Coast Classic that starts on November 20th.