Photo By Alex Edwards | The Daily Mississippian
Ole Miss basketball in 2013-14 has yet to be boring. Fourteen games have been decided by single digits or have gone into overtime. Not only are the games close, but they feature the most entertaining player in college basketball, Marshall Henderson.
Whether you love him or hate him, or if you think he is bad for Ole Miss basketball (don’t be an idiot), it is hard to deny how much fun he is to watch.
There is no question as to why Ole Miss set a sellout streak record last season, or as to why they have been playing in front of near-capacity crowds at home and on the road. Henderson is fun to love and fun to hate.
And as the offense was rolling in the first half against Missouri – 50 points (1.47 points per possession) on 56.3 percent shooting – Henderson was putting on a show.
The first basket of the game was a Henderson three in transition.
That three, and Henderson’s reputation for taking those shots, set up this dunk for Anthony Perez.
On a fast break, Henderson gets Wes Clark to vacate the lane, which allows Henderson to slip in a pass for an easy two points.
Henderson had another assist to Aaron Jones early in the game. Jones and Henderson ran a pick-and-roll, and as Ryan Rosburg, Jones’ defender, was overly aggressive, Henderson slipped a beautiful pocket pass to Jones.
As Henderson the showman does, he dropped an extra dash of flair into this behind-the-back pass to Anthony Perez for a three.
In the second half, he was silenced for a little bit, but then he hit this three.
Photo By Tyler Bischoff | The Daily Mississippian
He catches on his outside shoulder and starts his shooting motion before even looking at the basket. Oh, and he’s fading to his right.
“I’ve played basketball all my life. I know where the rim is at,” Henderson said of that shot.
But he also got a little encouragement from a fan.
“Some guy in the front row behind me said, ‘Shoot it, Marshall!’ That’s all I need to hear,” Henderson said.
On top of his play, Henderson is always reliable for a good quote like the one above or this one about Sebastian Siaz.
Photo By Alex Edwards | The Daily Mississippian
“Sebastian brought it tonight, down low just battling,” Henderson said. “I literally would see like four Missouri guys jumping up and Sebastian and that hair just going through getting the rebound.”
That hair.
Marshall Henderson is just fun. He’s incited passion into a fan base that views basketball as a filler days when football or football recruiting aren’t producing any more story lines.
It might get boring when Ole Miss takes the court net season without Henderson on the roster, so enjoy his final eight regular season games and whatever postseason fate is in store for Henderson’s Rebels.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
