The Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers will finish their 2013-14 non-conference schedule with a showdown against Ole Miss Monday night at 7 p.m. at E.A. Diddle Arena.
A win against the Rebels would make WKU 9-4 entering conference play for the first time since the 2006-07 squad also went 9-4 in the early non-conference schedule.
Ole Miss is the fourth team on WKU’s non-conference schedule to win at least 27 games in 2012-13 (Wichita State, 30; Louisville, 35; Southern Miss, 27; Ole Miss, 27), and the Rebels return 11 letterwinners from a 2012-13 team that advanced to the third round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
WKU and Ole Miss have never met, but Rebel head coach Andy Kennedy has been to E.A. Diddle Arena multiple times as a player for three seasons at UAB and assistant coach at South Alabama in 1994-95 and UAB from 1997-2001.
WKU last hosted an opponent from the Southeastern Conference on Nov. 27, 2010, when South Carolina earned an 87-85 double-overtime win at E.A. Diddle Arena. WKU’s last home win against an SEC foe came the season before, when the Hilltoppers knocked off Mississippi State 55-52 on Jan. 4, 2010.
• WKU has won 12-straight non-conference home games.
• WKU is 23-5 under Ray Harper at home.
• WKU leads the Sun Belt Conference in average home attendance in 2013-14 (4,240 fans per game).
• WKU is 25-46 all-time against current members of the Southeastern Conference.
• WKU has committed 11 or fewer turnovers in three of the last five games.
• George Fant has started 42-straight games, while T.J. Price has started 34-in-a-row.
• Price has scored in double figures in 22 of his last 24 games.
• Price has made at least one three-pointer in 26-straight games and multiple threes in 21 of the 26 contests.
• WKU has held at least a two-possession lead in all four of its losses this season and a lead of at least nine points in two of its last three defeats.
• Should Price and Fant both reach the 1,000 career point threshold in 2013-14, it would mark the first time since 2009-10 that multiple players have reached the milestone in the same season (Jeremy Evans, Stephon Pettigrew, A.J. Slaughter; 2009-10).
The Rebels have a 95-27 record (.779 win pct.) against teams outside the SEC since Andy Kennedy took over in 2006-07, including a 64-3 mark at home.
• Ole Miss has blocked 85 shots this season and leads the SEC and ranks third in the nation averaging 7.7 blocked shots per game. Junior F Aaron Jones ranks third in the league and is tied for 27th in the country averaging 2.8 blocked shot per game.
• Senior G Marshall Henderson hit a school-record 10 3-pointers en route to a career-high 39 points in the Rebels' overtime loss to No. 13 Oregon. Henderson ranks second in the nation averaging 4.4 3-pointers per game.
• Junior C Demarco Cox posted his second double-double with 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in the Rebels' win over Georgia Tech and earned Barclays Center Classic tournament MVP honors after averaging 11.0 points and 10.5 boards per game in New York.
• Head coach Andy Kennedy, the all-time winningest coach in school history, has led the Rebels to six 20-plus win campaigns in his seven years in Oxford. Ole Miss had only posted seven 20-plus win season in the 96 years before Kennedy's arrival.
Ole Miss leads the SEC, and ranks third in the nation, averaging 7.7 blocked shots per game. Junior F Aaron Jones is ranks third in the league, and is tied for 27th in the nation, averaging 2.8 blocked shots per game, while junior CDemarco Cox is tied for sixth in the conference averaging 1.6 blocked shots per game.
Senior G Marshall Henderson broke his own school record with 10 3-pointers vs. No. 13 Oregon en route to a career-high 39 points. Henderson attempted a school-record 23 3-pointers in the game, which is just one shy of the SEC record held by Pat Bradley of Arkansas. Henderson ranks second in the nation averaging 4.40 3-pointers made per game and has hit a 3-pointer in every game of his Ole Miss career. He also ranks eighth in the league in 3-point FG percentage hitting 37.6% of his attempts.
Junior G Jarvis Summers scored 25 points and Senior G Marshall Henderson added 15, as Ole Miss edged Middle Tennessee 72-63 Saturday afternoon. The Rebels snapped a four-game losing streak to the Blue Raiders and defeated their first NCAA Tournament team from a year ago.
Ole Miss claimed the Barclays Center Classic championship with a 79-76 victory over Penn State. It marked the second exempted tournament title for the Rebels, joining the 2007 San Juan Shootout, under head coach Kennedy, who improved to 19-6 in exempted tournament at Ole Miss. The Rebels hit 11 3-pointers in the game, led by Henderson (4) and Summers (3). The duo also led the team in scoring with 19 points each, and Summers added 5 assists and no turnovers for Ole Miss, who improved to 8-8 all-time versus the Big Ten.
The Hilltoppers have been bolstered of late by the play of Chris Harrison-Docks, a transfer from Butler University, and Trency Jackson, a transfer from Texas Tech.
Monday's game will be televised by the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network, airing nationally on ESPN3 and ESPN Full Court and regionally on WKU PBS in the Bowling Green area and WBNA in Louisville. It will be broadcast on the radio on the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network, airing locally in Bowling Green on WKLX-FM Sam 100.7.
Fans interested in purchasing single-game tickets or multiple-game packages can call the WKU Ticket Office at 1-800-5-BIG RED or 745-5222 locally, or order online at WKUSports.com.