by Taylor Rayburn
University, Miss. (TLV) – The Ole Miss fan base is not the only one who is ready for the new basketball arena.
After winning the Emerald Coast tournament last week, with big wins against No. 23 Creighton and Cincinnati, the Rebels laid an egg at home against Texas Christian University’s Horned Frongs (TCU) in the Tad Pad.
The Rebels were lead by Stefan Moody who had 12 points. Ole Miss is now 5-2 on the season and just 2-2 at home.
The first half was competitive and fairly defensive as TCU only had a 3 point lead at the break. However, in the second half the floodgates opened as Horned Frogs jumped out and lead as much as 19 points, and had scored as many points in ten minutes as they did in the entire first half.
About some of Ole Miss’ defensive problems, Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said, “We were going small to get spread and to make some shots and then got killed on the defensive glass.”
TCU registered only four offensive rebounds in the first half compared to Ole Miss’s nine. However in the second half, the Horned Frogs roared back and out-rebounded the Rebels on offense 15-12.
The Rebels have really struggled in the Tad Pad this season. Kennedy was confused of how poorly the Rebels have played at home compared to the road.
“I don’t know what we are shooting in this building,” Kennedy said, “but every time you (the media) have seen us we are just flat, have no rhythm.”
The Rebels are shooting a very poor 36% from the field at home, compared to shooting 50% on the road. In both their home losses they shot below 30% from the field and we out-rebounded.
Kennedy played a lot of players against TCU, but no Rebel played more than 30 minutes and only one played less than ten minutes.
“I am playing a bunch of guys a bunch of minutes because I’m just looking for some consistency,” Kennedy said. “Somebody that wants to play, somebody that wants to earn minutes.”
The Rebels have had little rhythm on offense and they only had 7 total assist against TCU and only Moody scored more than ten points.
The Rebels hope to bounce back next week when they leave the Tad Pad and travel to Eugene, Oregon to play the Oregon Ducks, who are 5-2 on the season with all five wins coming at home.
The game will be at 3:00 pm central standard time on Sunday, December 7th and be on Fox Sports 1. 
