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Ole MIss will face Penn State in the Barclays Center his afternoon at 3:30 PM Central. The game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network and DirecTV 220, and can be caught over the airwaves on your local Ole MIss Radio Network affiliate.
Rebs Beat Georgia Tech 77-67
Ole Miss advanced to the Barclays Center Classic championship game after beating Georgia Tech by 10 yesterday in the semifinals.
Penn State beat the St. John's Red Storm last night in overtime 89-82 to advance to today's championship game. St. John's and Georgia Tech will play in the consolation game this afternoon as a part of the four-team tournament. The Rebels, as I'm sure you're aware, beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by ten yesterday in a game that was more convincing than the score would indicate. Derek Millinghaus, DeMarco Cox, and Marshall Henderson led the way for the Rebs, who used a very balanced offensive attack and opportunistic enough defense to win.
And now for buster_bluth's four factors preview, copied directly from here:
Here's how the Rebels (5-0) match up with the Penn State Nittany Lions (5-1) using the Four Factors. (National Rank in Parentheses)
| OM O | PnSt D | PnSt O | OM D | ||
| eFG% | 50.5% (141) | 47.2% (107) | 55.4% (34) | 41.6% (13) | |
| TO% | 15.6% (55) | 16% (278) | 12.7% (6) | 20.8% (66) | |
| OR% | 33.8% (117) | 27.4% (54) | 29.4% (230) | 31.2% (155) | |
| FTR | 46.8 (109) | 44.0 (210) | 48.0 (87) | 38.6 (133) |
Official Preview from OleMissSports.com is here
The Rebels take on a very high scoring Penn State today in the championship game of the Barclays Center Classic. The Rebels played their best game of the season yesterday, defeating Georgia Tech 77-67. Penn State needed overtime to knock off St. John's 89-82.
The Lions are led by by the dynamic backcourt duo of Tim Frazier and D.J. Newbill, averaging 19.9 and 19.0 ppg respectively. Each has been very efficient in their scoring with eFG%s of 55% for each. Looking at the Four Factors above, you can see that they run a very efficient offense in general, shooting a very high eFG% and turning the ball over at a ridiculously low rate - just 12.7% of possessions. Where they have struggled this year is rebounding the ball offensively and forcing turnovers on the defensive end. They also have put guys on the FT Line a little more than they would've liked.
This is a much tougher matchup for the Rebels than Georgia Tech was yesterday. The Lions have experienced talent in both the front- and backcourts and they've all been through the rigors of at least one B1G basketball season. The Rebels' backcourt - looking at you Jarvis Summers - will need to play smart defensively and not pickup silly fouls. PSU will attack, attack, then attack some more, so the Rebs will need to swarm like they did yesterday.
(Sure to be terribly, terribly wrong) Predictions:
Rebels 78, Nittany Lions 72
With the game closer on the second half, Marshall Henderson continues to attack offensively, topping 30 points for the first time this season
Sebasitan Saiz builds off a strong second half yesterday, comes off the bench for his first career double double
(As always, the national rankings pulled from kenpom.com, quite possibly the coolest site on the whole wide intertubes... Red Cup Rebellion excluded of course)