Ole Miss’ Sebastian Saiz celebrates during a game against Mississippi State. Ole Miss defeated Mississippi State 82-63 to improve 5-1 in SEC play. (Photo/Alex Edwards)
Ole Miss has its two go-to scorers, but beyond senior guard Marshall Henderson and junior guard Jarvis Summers, the rest of the Rebels struggled this season to settle into their roles. But now, as Ole Miss stands at 5-1 in Southeastern Conference play, the team looks comfortable and set in their roles.
“We need Marshall and Jarvis to be all-league caliber players and to this point they are both playing as such,” head coach Andy Kennedy said. “And we’ve got to get contributions from different people.
“(Sophomore forward) Anthony (Perez) is getting more comfortable, and as those freshmen get more minutes, we are seeing more production.”
Henderson and Summers are in the top eight in scoring in the SEC, and they’ll likely finish there, as the two combine for nearly 40 points per game. But Kennedy has needed production from other places, and as Ole Miss dropped numerous close games, and a season-high under Kennedy three home non-conference games, the secondary options were absent.
Kennedy cited time after time that players were not ready to step into bigger roles that were filled by Murphy Holloway, Reggie Buckner and Nick Williams last season.
But that has changed, and it started with freshman forward Sebastian Saiz’s 20-point breakout game against LSU. Saiz went off against Johhny O’Bryant and one of the bigger teams in the SEC.
Following up Saiz’s 20-point game was Perez going for 22 points against South Carolina. They needed every single one of those 22, as Ole Miss escaped Columbia with a one-point win.
Since then, it hasn’t been huge 20-point games from unexpected sources, but rather small contributions all over the court.
Take today’s win over Mississippi State. Junior guard LaDarius White scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds. Perez followed up with nine points – on 3 of 4 shooting – and seven rebounds. Junior forward Aaron Jones had eight points and 10 rebounds, and Saiz had six points and 11 rebounds, plus three blocks and assists.
While Ole Miss saw Henderson and Summers shoot 28 of the Rebels 63 shots, it is the other pieces that lead to victories.
The excellent scoring backcourt duo gets Ole Miss on the precipice of winning. It is the contributions of everyone else that leads to 11 and 19 points wins over Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
One issue for Ole Miss is sophomore guard Martavious Newby going down with a broken hand. Newby is the best defender on the team, and a ball of energy.
“He’s a difference maker,” Kennedy said. “We have nobody on our team that can fill the role that Martavious Newby did.”
Without Newby, the roles may have to be altered slightly, but the production from everyone else has been, and needs to remain, consistent.
While the last three opponents will likely finish at the bottom of the SEC standings, and the road ahead gets substantially tougher with Tennessee and Kentucky in the next three, Ole Miss can take care of business against the scraping bottom of the league and have shots to take down the top – and middle that Ole Miss finds itself in.
Beat the bottom. Be the best of the middle. And take down one of the top teams at least once, and Ole Miss could find itself dancing for the second straight year.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
