Marshall Henderson shoots over a Missouri defender. Photo: Aditya Khare, The Daily Mississippian.
Ole Miss will look to snap a two-game losing streak and grab a quality win for its NCAA tournament resume as the Rebels host No. 18 Kentucky tonight.
The Wildcats (19-6, 9-3 Southeastern Conference) are coming off a loss to Florida on Saturday. It was the first loss at home for Kentucky this season. The Wildcats are 4-2 on the road in SEC play, as they dropped games to Arkansas and LSU.
Given Kentucky’s prowess this season – it is a top-20 RPI team – this game presents an opportunity for the Rebels (16-9, 7-5 SEC) to get a signature win. Ole Miss’ biggest win is over fellow bubble team Missouri, which has an RPI of 38, according to WarrenNolan.com.
Kentucky and Ole Miss have battled once this season already, as the Rebels fell in Lexington by 16 points; Ole Miss trailed by just 1 point at halftime.
In that game, Willie Cauley-Stein came off the bench to score 18 points, grab 11 rebounds and swat six shots. Four other Wildcats reached double figures, and Kentucky shot 36 free throws to Ole Miss’ 10.
Marshall Henderson had 16 points, but he shot just 6 of 18 from the field. Jarvis Summers also struggled scoring 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
Not only did Summers struggle against Kentucky, but he has been in a slump the last four games. He’s averaging 11.8 points on 32.6 percent shooting. He also only made 2 of 12 3-pointers in that span; he was shooting above 50 percent from behind the arc prior to his slump.
But one issue plaguing Summers is foul trouble. He has finished the last three games with four fouls, and over the last four games, he has committed as many fouls, 15, as he has made field goals.
Head coach Andy Kennedy has said many times this season that he needs Summers to play like an All-SEC player. If Summers continues to struggle, Ole Miss’ offense will suffer.
The Rebels are 1-3 in the last four games and have been out-rebounded in all three of those losses, while they won the rebounding battle in their lone win.
The first game of that stretch was against Kentucky, and the Wildcats out-rebounded Ole Miss 41-26. Kentucky rebounded more than half of its own misses, grabbing 15 of 27 available offensive rebounds.
The Rebels dropped two road games last week and have fallen back to fourth in the SEC standings. They are one game out of third, but there is a four-way tie for fifth that sits one game behind Ole Miss.
This week, when Ole Miss plays the top two teams in the SEC, could see a shift in the standings. But most likely the logjam will remain for teams three through eight in the conference.
Ole Miss and Kentucky tip off at 6 p.m. from Tad Smith Coliseum and can be seen on ESPN.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
