Myles Burns has started paying attention to the details since arriving at Ole Miss
When Myles Burns made the decision to come to Ole Miss afters spending four years at Loyola-New Orleans he was already a good basketball player, but now he is taking another step.
Burns is a successful player, leading the Wolfpack to a 37-1 season and the NAIA National Championship this past March.
But since hooking up with Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis there has been a shift within Burns’ game and mindset.
“I’m trying to be more detailed,” Burns said. “Coach Davis is obviously a perfectionist. He’s on us about every single detail and that’s something that I’m actually not used to. So I can feel myself starting to be more detailed about the game a little bit more.”
Burns is not making the transition from the NAIA to the Southeastern Conference and Division I basketball alone. His former head coach at Loyola-New Orleans, Stacy Hollowell, made the move with Burns to become the Associated Athletic Director for Men’s Basketball.
Having Hollowell in Oxford, who coached Burns the previous four seasons, is something that made the adjustment period smoother for him. Both on and off the court.
“It’s good having coach Stacy with me because he was there through it all from day one with me being a freshman coming up,” Burns said. “Whenever I’m feeling down on myself, whenever there’s days where I tend to feel inadequate because I miss a shot, etc., he’s always there to remind me to keep going. It’s definitely the perfect situation having him here.”
Burns had his unofficial debut with Ole Miss this past week in the exhibition game against West Georgia.
The transfer forward played 19 minutes and finished with eight points, three assists and a rebound. Burns is not a guard but more will be asked of him to start the season with the loss of Daeshun Ruffin.
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The sophomore guard is out with a bone bruise suffered in the exhibition game, leaving Ole Miss without one of its top scorers for an undetermined amount of time.
Burns along with freshman TJ Caldwell and Amaree Abram are just three of the newcomers who are going to be relied on heavily to help the Rebels find some offense.
On this year’s Ole Miss roster there are four players who won Defensive Player of the Year honors at their previous schools before coming to Oxford. Burns is one of them along with Jayveous McKinnis, Theo Akwuba and Josh Mballa.
With all of the defense experience on the roster, it does not mean those four new faces cannot produce on offense.
“Offensively, I think the shooting,” Burns said of what he and the other three transfers might surprise people with. “I think Jay has a crazy mid-range game. Theo can get it done. He can step out to the three-point line and get it done. Obviously you got Josh Mballa who can do it all, pretty much. You got me who can knock down an open three, or whatever, with a hand in my face. I think shooting is going to be one of the biggest surprises for everybody.”
Watch the rest of Myles Burns media availability from Friday below. Video provided by Ole Miss Sports Production.
