Coming off a Southeastern Conference tournament title and two NCAA tournament victories the Ole Miss men’s basketball team will have lofty expectations to live up to in the 2013-14 season. But this season’s squad will have to tap into different resources to pull off another big run.
Nick Williams, Murphy Holloway and Reggie Buckner graduated. Those three combined for 31.9 points, 19.9 rebounds and 3.4 steals per game. While Ole Miss has an experienced backcourt to deal with the loss of Williams, the frontcourt will be tested.
Returning junior forwards Aaron Jones and Demarco Cox both missed the entire second half of last season due to injuries, with Cox playing in just seven games. But both have been practicing, and head coach Andy Kennedy is encouraged by their return.
“They haven’t missed a day of practice,” Kennedy said. “They seem healthy. They’re getting their timing back. Most importantly, they’re getting their confidence back. They know that they can play the roles that we need them to play.”
Kennedy will use a four-man rotation in the post as freshmen Sebastian Saiz and Dwight Coleby will get playing time down low. Saiz played for the Spanish U-19 and U-20 teams this summer averaging 8.3 points and 7.6 rebounds in 19 games in two tournaments.
None of the players Kennedy intends to use in the frontcourt played during the Rebels’ run to the SEC title or the NCAA tournament.
Ole Miss will also have to deal with the suspension of last year’s leading scorer, Marshall Henderson. The senior will miss four total games, three regular-season games and one exhibition. The regular season suspension will start with the season opener against Troy on Friday, Nov. 8, and includes the first two SEC games in January.
“I’ve never dealt with it,” Kennedy said. “It’s kind of unprecedented in the way that it’s laid out. When we approach Auburn, by then a lot of other guys (will) have gotten experience.”
Ole Miss will have to replace the focal point of its offense for three games during the season. The offense was centered around Henderson, as the most run play from last season was letting him run off of multiple baseline screens to get an open shot. Kennedy will have to retool the offense for his suspension.
“We obviously knew there was going to be a suspension,” Kennedy said. “As we were preparing our team, he’s been on the second team the entire time because we wanted to get a little continuity.”
Ole Miss will likely start juniors Jarvis Summers and LaDarius White at two of the guard positions, but that leaves a third spot open when Henderson sits out. Derrick Millinghaus could start, but he is the backup point guard, and starting with Summers is not ideal. That leaves sophomores Anthony Perez and Martavious Newby, who averaged 1.7 and 1.6 points last season, and freshman Janari Joesaar, a native of Estonia, as potential starters.
Exhibition vs. USC-Aiken
Ole Miss hosts USC-Aiken in an exhibition game tonight at 6 p.m. The Pacers return three players who averaged more than 12 points per game last season. Forward Paul Larsen averaged 12.9 points and nine rebounds last year, while their leading scorer Ronald Zimmerman returns with his 15.3 points-per-game average.
USC-Aiken went 25-8 last year, including a 15-3 mark in the Peach Belt Conference. They made it to the Elite Eight NCAA Division II Tournament. Ole Miss will be without Marshall Henderson for this exhibition game, and head coach Andy Kennedy hasn’t declared who will start, but he plans to play everyone.
“Still a little bit fluid. We’ll play everybody.” Kennedy said. “We’ll have 11 scholarship bodies healthy and eligible for that game and all of them will play.”
It’ll be the first opportunity to see the incoming freshmen, Sebastian Saiz, Dwight Coleby, Janari Joesaar and Jerron Martin.
Ole Miss will get the regular season started in a week when it hosts Troy Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
-Tyler Bischoff
tbisch@go.olemiss.edu
