Three Ole Miss Rebels the Crimson Tide Must Be Prepared For

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama basketball looks to put the off court drama behind them on Wednesday and extend its winning streak to three as they travel to Oxford to take on an Ole Miss program that's dropped its last five games.

Ole Miss finished 10-8 in conference play last season, with one of its marquee wins coming over No. 4 Alabama in Coleman Coliseum. The Rebels saw then junior forward Malik Dia lead the effort, scoring 23 points and snagging 19 rebounds as Ole Miss pulled off a 74-64 upset.

"Yeah, he was good, beyond good against us; he destroyed us," Oats said. "He's big, strong, tough, physical inside, so you've got to keep a big on him, if you will, most of the time. If you don't, you're going to have to double because he abuses inside, but he's also able to step out and knock down 3s, take you off the dribble. He got all the rebounds.

They've got him, who had all those rebounds, they also have Corey Chest, who killed us when he was at LSU with all the rebounding. They've got multiple guys on their roster that have destroyed us on the glass, particularly. We've got to do a great job rebounding the ball, we're aware of that. Dia's a tough cover. He's one of the better post players in our league. He's been good for them at times. I don't know if he's had a 23 and 19 game for them this year, but shoot, he was great against us last year. So we definitely have to be on high alert with him, make sure we have the right matchups and the right game plan to make sure we do a lot better job this year on him."

The Rebels brought in LSU transfer Corey Chest into the fold this offseason to serve as Dia's backup. Chest scored 12 points and secured 18 rebounds for the Tigers in an 80-73 loss to the Crimson Tide last season, but still stood out with his performance.

Dia and Chest present the Crimson Tide with problems in its now-thin front court, but the Rebels present one more complication in the form of point guard Ilias Kamardine.

"It's a good team that beat us here last year. We've got to make sure we're ready for them. They've got a multitude of players that are playing. [Ilias] Kamardine played with JDA Dijon in France, in the first tier of France division. He's a pro and played a lot of years of professional basketball before he came over here. He's good. He's been starting at the point for them. We've got to make sure we're ready."

Kamardine's averaging 10.9 points, three assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 10 SEC games this season. Kamardine's played for six different French professional teams since turning 16. He's shooting 30-percent from beyond the arc and scored a season-high 26 points against the Memphis Tigers in non-conference play.

The Ole Miss Rebels are 3-7 in SEC play this season, but have been competitive throughout the season, winning in Athens against Georgia and dropping close matchups against Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

The Crimson Tide needs to show they can play against elite rebounding teams without Charles Bediako and can commit to playing defense against quality guards if they want to make the most of the rest of the year. Wednesday's matchup offers Alabama a perfect opportunity to take steps in these areas against the Ole Miss Rebels.