Coming off a blowout loss last weekend, this SEC West contender will try to bounce back in Tuscaloosa without its best player.

Sound familiar? It’s Alabama, right?

Nope.
But if any group can relate to what the Crimson Tide must overcome without senior point guard Ron Steele, it is the Ole Miss Rebels, who visit Coleman Coliseum at 7 p.m. today.

Ole Miss has already lost Eniel Polynice, Chris Warren and Trevor Gaskins for the season with injuries. Steele will miss the remainder of the season with plantar fasciitis, a painful heel injury.

Both teams are reeling after lopsided losses. Ole Miss was pounded at home by LSU, 83-51. Alabama lost at Auburn 85-71. The Rebels are 10-7 overall. The Crimson Tide is 11-6. Both teams are 1-2 in the league.

The similarities don’t end there. Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried said both teams will play with a sense of urgency.

“We obviously need to bounce back and Ole Miss is in the same situation,” Gottfried said. “You’ve got two teams coming off a loss and both teams are going to play extremely hard.”

Ole Miss assistant coach Michael White said the young Rebels will have their hands full.

“Alabama is very talented, very athletic,” said White, who stood in for Andy Kennedy on the SEC coaches teleconference Monday. He said
Kennedy was on the road recruiting. “They’re kind of sitting in the same situations we are with dealing with injuries and dealing with the fact that they need a win in the worst way.”

Like Alabama, which fell behind 23-6 in the opening five minutes at Auburn, Ole Miss wasn’t in the game against LSU. White attributed that to poor mental preparation for his young squad.

“We’re playing a bunch of young guys that don’t quite understand on every possession what it takes to be successful,” White said. “LSU comes in with a bunch of men, a bunch of experience. I think we probably had a false sense of confidence after the way we played against Arkansas. Turned it over five of our first six possessions. … Before you know it, it’s 19-2 and our guys look like deer in headlights.”

Turnovers plagued Alabama, too. The Tide had a season-high 20 miscues as Auburn enjoyed a 34-14 advantage in points off turnovers.

Senario Hillman, Alabama’s slashing guard, committed seven turnovers while scoring just 6 points. At the point guard spot, Mikhail Torrance turned it over six times and Brandon Hollinger three times in just 15 minutes. Torrance did have a career-high 24 points off the bench. But that also came when Hillman and Alonzo Gee combined for just 16 points.

Gottfried talked about combining Torrance’s talents — penetrating and driving to the basket — without disrupting the strengths that Gee and Hillman provide. Those two lead Alabama in scoring, averaging 14.2 and 13.6 points per game, respectively.

“You’re trying to blend all that together, I wish it just happened overnight,” Gottfried said. “Sometimes those things take a little bit of time.”

David Huertas leads Ole Miss with 18.7 points per game. Forwards Murphy Holloway and Malcolm White average more than five rebounds per game.

“Huertas is a heck of a scorer, a good player,” Gottfried said. “A freshman they’ve got coming off the bench, Terrico White, he’s had some great games — very athletic, good player as well. They got a lot of good players. Again, we’ve got to get ourselves ready to play on Wednesday night.”

White is the SEC Freshman of the Week after scoring 22 points against LSU.