It took him a while, but junior guard Marshall Henderson finally got heated up and propelled Ole Miss (16-2, 5-0 SEC) to its eighth straight win and a 5-0 conference record, tied for the best start in conference play in Rebel history, in a 62-56 win over Tennessee (9-8, 1-4 SEC) in front of an announced crowd of 9,206, the third consecutive sellout for Ole Miss.
Henderson was scoreless for the first 15:30 of the game. He knocked down four free throws for his only first-half points. In the second half, Henderson had two spurts. He scored 11 points in three minutes, then scored nine in a minute and a half, all of which energized the team and the fans.
“One of my favorite sayings is, ‘All it takes is one.’ Sometimes, it’s just annoying how long it takes to get to that one,” Henderson said. “All I need is to see it go through the net one time.”
Henderson ended with 28 points, including 6 of 15 from 3-point range, and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line.
“Once he got one going, he made that crazy leaner,” head coach Andy Kennedy said of Henderson. “Then, he got all combustible and started knocking down shots.”
Tennessee led at half, 25-18. Ole Miss was 4 of 23 from the field in the first half, 10 of 17 from the line and 0 of 8 from the three. Tennessee held a 26-15 rebound advantage. The Volunteers were just 1 of 10 from three.
“They had complete control of the tempo in the first half, and a lot of that is because we could never make a shot, which means we couldn’t extend on our pressure,” Kennedy said.
Tennessee committed 21 turnovers, compared with just 11 by Ole Miss. The Rebels cashed in as well, with 18 points off turnovers, while Tennessee had just six.
There were 53 fouls committed in the game, and both teams experienced foul trouble to their big men. Jarnell Stokes of Tennessee picked up two fouls in the first three minutes. Senior forward Murphy Holloway fouled out with just eight points and six rebounds, his lowest point total of the season.
Freshman forward Terry Brutus played nine first-half minutes due to the foul trouble. Brutus had played 28 minutes all season.
Senior forward Reginald Buckner led the team in rebounding with eight, and sophomore point guard Jarvis Summers matched his season-high with seven assists.
There was a lot of talk by players, fans and coaches leading up to the rematch, and most of it stemmed from Henderson’s 32-point performance in Knoxville earlier this year.
“We still feel like we’re a little disrespected,” Henderson said. “That’s why we think Tennessee was talking so much, because they’re Tennessee and we’re Ole Miss.”
Rebels face Auburn Saturday
Ole Miss will have a short turnaround, as it will travel to take on the Auburn Tigers (8-10, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. It is the only time in conference play that Ole Miss will have just one day to rest.
After starting conference play with two wins over LSU and South Carolina, Auburn has dropped three straight games. The Tigers are 8-10 overall and have dropped two games in double overtime, one to Rhode Island at home in late November and the other at Arkansas.
In their first meeting with Ole Miss last season, the Tigers knocked Ole Miss off in double overtime, 69-68. The Rebels gave up 19 points to senior guard Frankie Sullivan, who is the Tigers’ leading scorer this season.
Austin McAfee/The Daily Mississippian
Junior guard Marshall Henderson
Ole Miss ended up getting two wins over Auburn last year by winning the regular-season matchup in Oxford and a first-round game in the SEC Tournament. In the three matchups, senior guard Nick Williams averaged 16 points, sophomore point guard Jarvis Summers averaged 15 points, and senior forward Murphy Holloway averaged 14.7 points and 11.7 rebounds.
The high-scoring Rebel offense could prove to be a problem for Auburn, which is 2-9 this season when allowing over 70 points. Ole Miss is averaging 81.3 points per game this season.
The Tigers have three players averaging double-digit points: Sullivan with 17.2, junior guard Chris Denson with 11 and senior center Rob Chubb with 10.3. Denson has only played seven games because he was ineligible for the first seven games of the season and missed four more in January with a stress fracture in his left foot.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @thedm_sports and @Tyler_RSR on Twitter.
