# 2016–17 Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball team represented the University of Mississippi in the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Andy Kennedy was in his 11th year as head coach of Ole Miss. The Rebels were members of the Southeastern Conference and played their home games at The Pavilion at Ole Miss. They finished the season 22–14, 10–8 in SEC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place. They defeated Missouri in the second round of the SEC tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Arkansas. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Monmouth and Syracuse before losing in the quarterfinals to Georgia Tech.

## Previous season

The Rebels finished the season 20–12, 10–8 in SEC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. They lost to Alabama in the second round of the SEC tournament. Despite having 20 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Martavious Newby | 1 | G | 6'3" | 210 | Senior | Memphis, TN | Graduated |
| J. T. Escobar | 2 | G | 6'2" | 177 | Freshman | Tallahassee, FL | Transferred to North Florida |
| Sam Finley | 10 | G | 6'2" | 179 | Junior | Corona, CA | Transferred to Cal State Northridge |
| Tomasz Gielo | 12 | F | 6'9" | 220 | Senior | Szczecin, Poland | Graduated |
| Anthony Pérez | 13 | F | 6'9" | 213 | Senior | Cumaná, Venezuela | Graduated |
| Alex Sheppard | 15 | G | 6'3" | 192 | Freshman | Madden, MS | Walk-on; transferred to NW Mississippi CC |
| Terry Brutus | 25 | F | 6'6" | 237 | RS Junior | Spring Valley, NY | Graduate transferred to Samford |
| Stefan Moody | 42 | G | 5'10" | 179 | Senior | Kissimmee, FL | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Cullen Neal | 2 | G | 6'5" | 195 | RS Junior | Albuquerque, NM | Transferred from New Mexico. Will eligible to play since Neal graduated from New Mexico. |
| Dominik Olejniczak | 44 | C | 7'0" | 249 | Sophomore | Toruń, Poland | Transferred from Drake. Under NCAA transfer rules, Olejniczak will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |
| Justas Furmanavičius | 50 | F | 6'7" | 210 | Junior | Kaunas, Lithuania | Junior college transferred from Three Rivers Community College |

## Recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Nate Morris #27 C | Lancaster, TX | Lancaster High School | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 250 lb (110 kg) | Oct 27, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Breein Tyree #41 PG | Metuchen, NJ | St. Joseph High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 178 lb (81 kg) | Sep 28, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Karlis Silins C | Riga, Latvia | BK VEF Rīga | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 225 lb (102 kg) | Nov 11, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: Not Ranked Rivals: Not Ranked ESPN: Not Ranked ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Ole Miss 2016 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "2016 Ole Miss Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. ||||||

### Recruiting class of 2017

US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| J.J. Smith #32 SG | Mableton, GA | Pebblebrook High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jan 9, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Tirus Smith SF | Petal, MS | Petal High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Mar 8, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: Not Ranked Rivals: Not Ranked ESPN: Not Ranked |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Ole Miss 2017 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "2017 Ole Miss Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 16, 2016. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/03/2016* 6:00 pm | | Morehouse | W 90–66 | | The Pavilion at Ole Miss Oxford, MS |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | UT Martin | W 86–83 | 1–0 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (6,123) Oxford, MS |
| 11/14/2016* 6:00 pm, SECN | | Massachusetts | W 90–88 | 2–0 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (5,291) Oxford, MS |
| 11/18/2016* 3:00 pm, CBSSN | | vs. Oral Roberts Paradise Jam quarterfinals | W 95–88 $^{OT}$ | 3–0 | Sports and Fitness Center (512) St. Thomas, VI |
| 11/20/2016* 5:00 pm, CBSSN | | vs. Saint Joseph's Paradise Jam semifinals | W 81–68 | 4–0 | Sports and Fitness Center (2,755) St. Thomas, VI |
| 11/21/2016* 7:30 pm, CBSSN | | vs. No. 12 Creighton Paradise Jam finals | L 77–86 | 4–1 | Sports and Fitness Center (2,699) St. Thomas, VI |
| 11/24/2016* 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Montana | W 86–81 | 5–1 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,358) Oxford, MS |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Middle Tennessee | L 62–77 | 5–2 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss Oxford, MS |
| 12/03/2016* 12:00 pm, SECN | | Memphis | W 85–77 | 6–2 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,411) Oxford, MS |
| 12/11/2016* 11:00 am, ESPNU | | at Virginia Tech | L 75–80 | 6–3 | Cassell Coliseum (7,522) Blacksburg, VA |
| 12/15/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Murray State | W 78–73 | 7–3 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (6,650) Oxford, MS |
| 12/19/2016* 8:00 pm, SECN | | Bradley | W 66–49 | 8–3 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,792) Oxford, MS |
| 12/22/2016* 8:00 pm, SECN | | South Alabama | W 92–58 | 9–3 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,260) Oxford, MS |
| 12/29/2016 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 8 Kentucky | L 76–99 | 9–4 (0–1) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,086) Oxford, MS |
| 01/03/2017 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 24 Florida | L 63–70 | 9–5 (0–2) | O'Connell Center (10,423) Gainesville, FL |
| 01/07/2017 5:00 pm, SECN | | at Auburn | W 88–85 | 10–5 (1–2) | Auburn Arena (9,121) Auburn, AL |
| 01/11/2017 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | Georgia | L 47–69 | 10–6 (1–3) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,029) Oxford, MS |
| 01/14/2017 5:30 pm, ESPNU | | at South Carolina | L 56–67 | 10–7 (1–4) | Colonial Life Arena (15,202) Columbia, SC |
| 01/17/2017 8:00 pm, SECN | | Tennessee | W 80–69 | 11–7 (2–4) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (6,085) Oxford, MS |
| 01/21/2017 2:30 pm, SECN | | at Missouri | W 75–71 | 12–7 (3–4) | Mizzou Arena (10,378) Columbia, MO |
| 01/25/2017 6:30 pm, ESPN2 | | Texas A&M | L 76–80 | 12–8 (3–5) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,055) Oxford, MS |
| 01/28/2017* 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 5 Baylor Big 12/SEC Challenge | L 75–78 | 12–9 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,411) Oxford, MS |
| 01/31/2017 6:00 pm, SECN | | Mississippi State | W 88–61 | 13–9 (4–5) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (8,205) Oxford, MS |
| 02/04/2017 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Vanderbilt | W 81–74 | 14–9 (5–5) | Memorial Gymnasium (9,287) Nashville, TN |
| 02/08/2017 5:30 pm, SECN | | at Tennessee | L 66–75 | 14–10 (5–6) | Thompson–Boling Arena (12,209) Knoxville, TN |
| 02/11/2017 5:00 pm, SECN | | Auburn | W 90–84 | 15–10 (6–6) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (8,280) Oxford, MS |
| 02/14/2017 8:00 pm, SECN | | LSU | W 96–76 | 16–10 (7–6) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,131) Oxford, MS |
| 02/18/2017 5:00 pm, SECN | | at Arkansas | L 80–98 | 16–11 (7–7) | Bud Walton Arena (17,356) Fayetteville, AR |
| 02/21/2017 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Mississippi State | W 87–82 $^{OT}$ | 17–11 (8–7) | Humphrey Coliseum (7,863) Starkville, MS |
| 02/25/2017 2:30 pm, SECN | | Missouri | W 80–77 | 18–11 (9–7) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,693) Oxford, MS |
| 03/01/2017 7:30 pm, SECN | | at Alabama | L 55–70 | 18–12 (9–8) | Coleman Coliseum (10,672) Tuscaloosa, AL |
| 03/04/2017 7:30 pm, SECN | | South Carolina | W 75–70 | 19–12 (10–8) | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,161) Oxford, MS |
| SEC tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 8:00 pm, SECN | (6) | vs. (14) Missouri Second Round | W 86–74 | 20–12 | Bridgestone Arena (13,112) Nashville, TN |
| 03/10/2017 8:25 pm, SECN | (6) | vs. (3) Arkansas Quarterfinals | L 72–73 | 20–13 | Bridgestone Arena (14,227) Nashville, TN |
| NIT ||||||
| 03/14/2017* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | (5) | at (4) Monmouth First Round – Syracuse Bracket | W 91–83 | 21–13 | OceanFirst Bank Center (1,672) West Long Branch, NJ |
| 03/18/2017* 10:00 am, ESPN | (5) | at (1) Syracuse Second Round – Syracuse Bracket | W 85–80 | 22–13 | Carrier Dome (9,556) Syracuse, NY |
| 03/21/2017* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | (5) | (6) Georgia Tech Quarterfinals – Syracuse Bracket | L 66–74 | 22–14 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,091) Oxford, MS |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||