OXFORD – Ole Miss men’s basketball coach Chris Beard said he had a tremendous amount of respect for senior guard Kezza Giffa before he ever really got to know him. Between his role as a father and his unique college journey, Giffa has the type of maturity Beard covets.

Giffa, a 6-foot-1 guard originally from France, began his college career at UTEP, where he scored nine total points over 14 games. He spent the next season at Daytona State, a junior college in Florida, where he averaged just under 11 points per game. Giffa played the last two seasons at High Point and helped lead the Panthers to 56 combined wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024-25. He was named first-team All-Big South in both his seasons at High Point.

Giffa entered the transfer portal in March and, after backing off his commitment to USC, chose Ole Miss as the destination for his final college season. Giffa was rated as a four-star transfer, and the Rebels added six four-star transfers overall this offseason, per 247Sports’ rankings.

“I chose Ole Miss because I have some friends that played for coach Beard, and they told me great things about him,” Giffa said. “ … He’s a great coach, so this is why I wanted to play for Ole Miss.”

Ole Miss is coming off its second-ever Sweet 16 appearance but will be without all but two players from that team. Senior forward Malik Dia returns, as does sophomore guard Eduardo Klafke. But gone are Sean Pedulla, Matthew Murrell, Jaylen Murray, Dre Davis and Jaemyn Brakefield – who averaged a combined 57.7 points per game last year – among others.

When Beard recruited Giffa out of the transfer portal, he not only saw a player with high-level experience at a winning program. He also saw a player with a path that somewhat resonated with his own.

“First it was his maturity, his experience. (Giffa) is a father. He takes that role real seriously. It’s the most important thing in his life, period. I have a lot of respect for that,” Beard said. “I’ve got three daughters myself, so we shared that bond. … A certain maturity level is needed for that.

“ … So what does (Giffa) do when things don’t quite work out at UTEP? He doesn’t make excuses. he just goes to work, and he chose to go the junior college route to kind of bet on himself. … We understand the sacrifices you make to go to junior college. A lot of respect for those guys.”

Giffa averaged 14.6 points per game on 44% shooting from the field last season. High Point’s 81.7 points per game ranked 22nd nationally, and the Panthers’ 49.2 field-goal percentage was eighth in the country. They ranked ninth nationally in points per game (83.9) in Giffa’s first season.

“I like to play with a fast tempo and just learn how to make my teammates better,” Giffa said. “We have a lot of great individual guys, and trying to help space the floor and find the guys down in the paint.”

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