Daeshun Ruffin's return to the Ole Miss lineup has not been a smooth transition
When Daeshun Ruffin took the court for the first time in the regular season last month it was meant to be a sign of positive things to come for the Ole Miss men’s basketball team. A month into Ruffin’s return and that has not been the case.
Both Ole Miss and Ruffin are struggling to find their respective grooves and one’s struggles is indirectly effecting the other. Since the sophomore guard returned on Dec. 3 at Memphis from yet another injury and setback, Ruffin has not returned to the form he was previous to the ACL injury he sustained last February.
Getting back to pre-injury levels 10 months removed from a knee injury such as the one Ruffin suffered was going to be a tough ask in that span.
The challenge facing head coach Kermit Davis and one he recognized from the start was having to re-insert Ruffin back into the lineup during the regular season. Live action against working a player back in with a team he has not spent significant minutes with on the court was always going to be an uphill battle.
“This is not Daeshun’s fault at all but we knew when we got him back on our team (he) wasn’t in great shape. We had to play him into shape,” Davis said after Tuesday’s loss to No. 7 Alabama. “Kind of almost like we did last year and he will find his rhythm at some point. It kind of disrupted our team a little bit. Nobody’s fault. It was just trying to integrate him into the lineup and get him minutes.”
Working Ruffin back onto the court did disrupt Ole Miss’ guard play and rotation that was solid to start the season.
Prior to Ruffin’s return last month Ole Miss (8-6, 0-2 SEC) won six of its first seven and was getting good minutes out of freshman Amaree Abram alongside junior Matthew Murrell.
Since averaging 21 points down in Orlando over Thanksgiving weekend in the ESPN Events Invitational Abram has hit double digits just once, scoring 10 against Tennessee last week.
The minutes have decreased for Abram as well. He has not played more than 17 minutes since the Central Florida game on Dec. 14.
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All of this is due to Ruffin, who has started only one game since returning, is eating into those minutes off the bench. Davis is still working to find the right formula and combination of Murrell, Ruffin and Abram.
The first two SEC games saw the other freshman guard TJ Caldwell get the start over Ruffin and Abram, which was due to Caldwells performance in practices according to Davis.
Against Alabama Ruffin scored 13 points with nine of them coming in the second half where he started looking more like his old self.
“(Tuesday) he looked more comfortable and more pop than he’s had,” Davis said. “He had a lot of open shots from three that he’s just got to keep shooting because they were open. Same shots as the Alabama guards, he probably had better threes than the Alabama guards. The shots that they made. He’s finding his rhythm. He looked a little more healthier tonight, especially in the second half.”
Ruffin and Ole Miss get another chance to find that rhythm on Saturday when they travel to Starkville and play Mississippi State (11-3, 0-2) at 1 p.m. CT on CBS.
