Davis emerging as Rebels’go-to guy
OXFORD - Terence Davis’ stock was at an all-time high last month.
Davis, Ole Miss’ sophomore guard, had just scored 26 secondhalf points to help the Rebels rally from a 23-point deficit against Auburn. He followed that with a career-high 33 points in a come-frombehind victory against LSU.
It was another one in a series of solid efforts, which he would’ve done just about anything for a year ago. But Davis’ potential was displayed for everyone to see, which prompted the text message that took things way too far.
“Like one dude text me like, ‘You think you leaving (for the NBA) this year?’ I’m like no, bro, it’s not that serious yet,” said Davis, who rightfully knew talk of the NBA was premature. “It was just a game. I just had a good game that game. You hear a lot of crazy stuff.”
Davis, a former three-sport standout at Southaven, is a brilliant athlete but he’s also one who had to fight through the struggles of his freshman season in order to become one of the more improved players in the SEC as a sophomore.
*** As Ole Miss assistant Bill Armstrong, who was Davis’ main recruiter, put it, he’s always used to being “the man.”
Davis was a Dandy Dozen selection in basketball, a 1,000-yard receiver for the Chargers and was even a member of the school’s swim team.
“(It’s my) 28th year and I’ve only had one or two like him,” Southaven football coach Ed Rich said. “We knew they were going double him. I told the coaches don’t tell me till they put three on him, then we’ll stop throwing to him.”
Despite devoting a lot of time to football, which kept Davis from truly refining his skills in basketball, he eventually matured into an AllState player his senior season, when he averaged 22.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
The 6-foot-4 Davis also proved resourceful at a young age. Todd Arnold, then-Southaven’s basketball coach, once received a phone call from Terence Davis Sr., informing Arnold the freshman Davis wouldn’t be able to make Southaven’s game that day.
Davis Sr. had to go to work and had no ride for his son. But the younger Davis searched for and eventually found a willing neighbor to drive him to the gym, much to Arnold’s surprise.
“It’s easy to find excuses why you can’t do something,” Arnold said. “Guys like Terence, they don’t accept that, they get it done.” *** But it’s difficult to get much done when you’re glued to the bench like Davis was his freshman season at Ole Miss.
Last season, Davis averaged 6.9 minutes and nearly as many fouls (1.2) as points (1.9). He only took 30 shots the entire season.
It was frustrating enough that he considered leaving and going home. But that’s where his father stepped in and stood behind Ole Miss’ staff.
“He didn’t say, ‘Hey, the coaches are messing you over or they’re not doing you right,’” Armstrong said. “... He said, ‘Hey, you need to get in there and work harder if you want a spot to play a lot next year.
“He had our back in that the whole time … a lot of times, parents go the other way and he stood behind us and it ultimately has helped Terence a tremendous amount.”
It was the first time Davis could shift his attention to just basketball. And even though Davis might have been frustrated with a lack of playing time, he kept working at it and never became a distraction.
“I don’t like energy vampires, guys that suck energy out of the room because they’re concerned with things other than what’s best for the team and he was never that,” Andy Kennedy said. “He always worked and put in the time, and an opportunity arose and he took advantage of it.”
*** When it was time to learn how to swim, there was no gradual learning lesson for Davis. His brothers already knew how to, so he was just thrown into the eight-foot end of the pool.
Ole Miss mostly kept him out of the water last year. But this year, he’s been thrown into the figurative deep end, paddling and learning to swim along the way.
Davis plays 24.5 minutes per game and has increased his points average by nearly 13 points, to 14.4. He takes 32.5 percent of Ole Miss’ shots while he’s on the floor, which ranks first in the SEC, so his role has dramatically increased.
““He’s evolved into a go-to-guy,” Kennedy said. “When you ask everybody on my team who wants to be a go-to-guy? They’d all raise their hand. But then you have to go produce at that level and TD has certainly had flashes of doing so.”
But as Kennedy said, it’s still just in spurts that Davis shows what he can do. There’s a reason why he was so quick to dismiss the notion of the NBA: Davis is still very raw and has things to tighten, like his ball handling, shooting, shot selection and defense.
He still has lapses where he slips into foul trouble. In Wednesday’s 70-55 loss to Alabama, a game Ole Miss had to have in order to retain any hope of the NCAA tournament, Davis picked up two fouls early on and played just four minutes in the first half while the offense looked stagnant.
The reason all 26 of his points against Auburn came in the second half was because he was on the bench because of foul trouble in the first.
“Just stay out of it,” Rich said. “I’m not going to watch basketball unless you’re playing and if you’re not playing I’m going to change the station.”
Then there was the 360-dunk, which he attempted during a tied game against Memphis in early December. Davis missed the dunk, but was fouled and hit both free throws, which saved him from even further embarrassment.
People aren’t going to forget it anytime soon.
“I let him have it. You’ve got to think, you’ve got to be smarter than that,” Davis Sr. said. “I know you wanted to bring the house down and all that. But that wasn’t the time, that wasn’t the time for a 360 dunk.”
So while the potential and the athleticism shines bright, Davis is still figuring out how to always be the player he can be.
*** While he is maturing, Davis still has some kid-like tendencies. For one ...
“I watch (Disney cartoon) Phineas and Ferb … I just fell in love with it. I fall asleep watching it,” Davis said. “One day I would like to meet the producers and the people who oversee Phineas and Ferb. Your mind has to be somewhere else to (create that). You have to be some type of smart to come up with all those ideas and how they put it all together with Dr. Doofenshmirtz. I just love it.”
Kennedy said he’s heard Davis is a superstar on Snapchat. Ole Miss freshman guard Breein Tyree is highlighted in some of Davis’ Instagram and Snapchat posts.
Their bond was initially formed on Tyree’s official visit, when Davis guided him through everything. Tyree said Davis is part of the reason he came to Ole Miss.
And after going through the struggles of not playing early, Tyree, who’s created a role for himself now, had Davis to lean on.