ALEX EDWARDS | The Daily Mississippian
Jarvis Summers drives with the ball during a basketball game against Troy in Oxford Nov. 8.
Ole Miss came into this season needing a No. 2 scorer, and it has found not one but two players answering the call.
Junior guard Jarvis Summers is leading the team with 15.7 points per game. He’s been more aggressive this season, taking nearly five more field goal attempts and three more free throw attempts per 40 minutes. He also improved his shooting from 40 percent in his first two years to 54 percent this season.
He’s been much better on the pick and roll, too. Last year on 165 Summers pick and rolls, Ole Miss scored .72 points per possession, according to Synergy Sports. This season his efficiency has surged to 1.20 per possession on 30 possessions.
Joining Summers’ surge in production is sophomore guard Derrick Millinghaus. He is second on the team with 15.3 points per game on a team-leading 13.7 shots per game. Overall, Millinghaus’ tendencies haven’t changed much from last season; he is just getting nearly twice the minutes.
He has raised his field goal percentage from 34 percent last year to 42 percent this season.
The two guards are both point guards, but due to their offensive surge, Andy Kennedy is playing them together, with Summers moving to the shooting guard position.
Playing them together allows Ole Miss to have two dangerous scorers on the perimeter even when Marshall Henderson is on the bench.
Summers scored six points against Georgia Tech; otherwise both players have reached double digits in every game. Ole Miss is 23-5 dating back to last year when either Summers or Millinghaus scores in double figures.
Cox stepping up
Junior center Demarco Cox was named the MVP of the Barclays Classic, as he averaged 11 points, 10.5 rebounds and two blocks per game. But Cox isn’t making defenses pay with stellar post moves; he is simply benefiting from his teammates’ passing and his ability to bully his way to offensive rebounds.
Cox made nine shots during the two games in Brooklyn. Five of those baskets were assisted, while the other four came off of offensive rebounds. Ole Miss isn’t asking Cox to post anybody up, but they are asking him to make defenses pay when his man leaves to help on driving guards.
Perez making progress
Sophomore forward Anthony Perez is emerging. He is shooting 41 percent from the field and 40 percent on threes. Although he is shooting just 4.8 times per game, it is a significant improvement from his 33 percent field goal shooting and 23 percent 3-point shooting of last season.
His rebounding per 40 minutes is slightly down from last season, but he has grabbed big rebounds late in Ole Miss’ two close games that helped seal up victories. The important part of that is Perez is playing in the closing minutes of tight games. Kennedy is trusting Perez to play in crucial moments. Kennedy has praised Perez’s potential since he came to Oxford, but his game lacked aggression and confidence. Now, he is playing with both and could be a critical part of the rotation — of guards and forwards — moving forward.
Tough road ahead
Ole Miss is in the midst of a tough stretch. They played two teams from power conferences last week and will continue that streak this week as they travel to play Kansas State on Thursday then host 14th-ranked Oregon on Sunday. Both games will be on ESPNU. Then, following finals week, Ole Miss will host Middle Tennessee State. Although MTSU isn’t from a power conference, it has knocked off Ole Miss each of the last two seasons.
We’ll learn a lot about Ole Miss over the next three games, especially against Oregon as Kansas State and Middle Tennessee State seem to have taken a step back this season.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
-Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
