Nov. 9, 2011

Ole Miss Game Notes

ULM Game Notes

SEASON OPENER: Ole Miss (0-0) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (0-0)
Friday, Nov. 11, 2011 | 6:30 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | C.M. Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061)

MEDIA
Television: None
Live Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network (David Kellum, play-by-play; Keith Carter, analyst).
Satellite Radio: XM 202
Live Video: RebelVision

QUICK HITS

• Ole Miss returns six lettermen and three starters from last year’s team that went 20-14 and played in the NIT.
• Head coach Andy Kennedy enters his sxith year at the helm and boasts a 105-64 record at Ole Miss.
• Kennedy’s 105 wins are the most by an Ole Miss coach in a five-year period. He is the first Rebel coach to lead the program to four 20-win seasons and the second to guide Ole Miss to four postseason appearances.
• Ole Miss is 76-25 all-time in season openers and has won each of the last seven.
• The Rebels are 72-15 in home games under Kennedy, including a 45-2 record against non-league foes.
• Junior forward Reginald Buckner was named to the preseason All-SEC 2nd team by the league coaches.
• Senior forward Terrance Henry is the team’s top returning scorer at 9.7 ppg.
• Ole Miss welcomes back junior forward Murphy Holloway, who can play immediately after transferring back to his original school from South Carolina, where he sat out last season.
• Ole Miss enters its first season in four years without the services of departed guards Chris Warren and Zach Graham, who finished as the third- and 18th-leading scorers in school history, respectively.
• The Rebels defeated North Alabama 91-62 in their lone preseason exhibition game.

KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION BEGINS SIXTH YEAR
In five seasons under Mississippi native Andy Kennedy, Ole Miss has a 105-64 record (most wins by an Ole Miss coach in a five-year period), two SEC West championships, four 20-win campaigns and four postseason berths, which includes a pair of trips to the NIT Final Four. The Rebels have their sights set on challenging for the program’s first SEC regular-season championship and their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2002, as Kennedy enters his sixth year at the helm.

NEW LOOK IN 2011-12
The Rebel bench has several new faces in 2011-12, including three new assistant coaches. Former FIU head coach Sergio Rouco, former Middle Tennessee assistant Al Pinkins and former Ole Miss Coordinator of Basketball Operations Bill Armstrong were hired in the offseason to replace Michael White, Owen Miller and Torrey Ward.
    Among the team’s nine freshmen and transfers is Memphis transfer Jelan Kendrick, a 6-foot-7 redshirt-freshman guard who is the first McDonald’s All-American in Ole Miss hoops history. Also back to Ole Miss is junior forward Murphy Holloway, who was a two-year starter for the Rebels before sitting out last year at South Carolina and then returning to Oxford. Other scholarship players joining the program are freshmen Maurice Aniefiok, Aaron Jones, Jamal Jones, Jarvis Summers and Ladarius White.

RETURNING PLAYERS
Ole Miss returns six lettermen and three starters from last year’s team that went 20-14 and played in the NIT. Returning starters are junior forward Reginald Buckner, senior forward Terrance Henry and junior guard Nick Williams. Henry is top returning scorer (9.7 ppg), Buckner the top returning rebounder (6.4 rpg) and Williams the top returning assists man (1.5 apg). The other returning lettermen are sophomore center Demarco Cox, sophomore guard Dundrecous Nelson and senior forward Steadman Short.