Anthony Perez attempts a shot during the game against Mississippi State Saturday. Photo: Alex Edwards, The Daily Mississippian.
When the Ole Miss men’s basketball team faces Tennessee, the Volunteers will pose a difficult test for the Rebel defense, as Tennessee brings the second-most efficient offense into Wednesday’s matchup. Tennessee has an offensive rating of 112.8, only behind Kentucky.
Senior guard Jordan McRae averages a team-high 18.5 points per game and will be one of the toughest matchups for Ole Miss all season.
“Jordan McRae is probably as explosive of a scorer from the wing as there is in our league,” head coach Andy Kennedy said of the 6-foot-6 guard. “He’s a guy I really think has a chance to be player of the year in the league.”
But Tennessee also presents a major problem in the frontcourt with junior Jarnell Stokes and senior Jeronne Maymon. The two combine for 24.7 points per game and are second and third in the SEC in rebounds per game.
“This group is an experienced lot,” Kennedy said. “And they’re big, and they’re physical. We have to make sure we buckle that chinstrap and understand that there is going to be nothing easy in Knoxville.”
Tennessee is second in the SEC in rebounding percentage, grabbing 56.8 percent of available rebounds; Ole Miss is 12th at 49.5 percent.
Ole Miss has improved its rebounding, as the Rebels have won the rebounding battle in four of the last five games. Kennedy credits smarter defense that goes for fewer blocked shots, as key to the improvement.
“I think we were trying to block too many shots, quite frankly, and taking ourselves out of position,” Kennedy said. “Not understanding when to go and when not to go.”
Anthony Perez’s breakout
Sophomore forward Anthony Perez has been coming on in the last few games. He scored a career-high 22 points against South Carolina and has been producing off the bench since then.
“Now we’ve got to get contributions from different people.” Kennedy said. “We’re getting those from Anthony Perez, who has put together the best three-game run in his early career.”
In his last five games, Perez has an offensive rating of 122.1 and a defensive rating of 94.4. For comparison, junior guard Jarvis Summers leads Ole Miss offensively at 122.1 and sophomore guard Martavious Newby leads defensively at 92.3.
RPI time
Ole Miss has an RPI of 58; Tennessee sits at 52. Ole Miss is currently 2-4 against the RPI top 100, with wins over LSU and Vanderbilt and losses to Kansas State, Oregon, Mercer and Dayton. So this game provides an opportunity for the Rebels to post a quality win, but when asked if his players kept track of RPI, Kennedy cited the international flavor of his roster as a reason for lack of RPI awareness.
“I’ve got the United Nations in my locker room. I hit them with this APR (Academic Progress Report) and GPA. I’m not even sure they know what NCAA is, many of them,” Kennedy said with a laugh of his roster with players from five different countries.” (But) you’re inundated with it. They watch college basketball like we watch college basketball. It’s talked about 24/7. They obviously understand. Now, they probably don’t get the formula.”
Part of the formula weighs road wins heavier than home wins. Essentially, road wins are worth 1.4 wins, while home wins are worth 0.6 wins. This makes road games against quality teams chances for major RPI boosts.
Conversely, home losses are equivalent to 1.4 losses and road losses are worth 0.6 losses. This means Ole Miss’ home losses in the nonconference damage the RPI.
Road warriors
Ole Miss and Florida are the only teams in the SEC with multiple road wins in conference play. In the last 28 SEC games, road teams are 5-23. Florida and Ole Miss combined to go 4-0 on the road; everyone else is 1-23.
Turning up the defense
Ole Miss is No. 1 in the SEC in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to shoot 38.8 percent. In conference games, Ole Miss is third in the SEC with a defensive rating of 93.9.
Andy Kennedy’s reaction to the Rick Ray/Marshall Henderson confrontation
Mississippi State head coach Rick Ray issued an apology in a statement after he was seen on camera mouthing something directed at Marshall Henderson. Kennedy said that Ray approached him after Kennedy had addressed the media following the game.
“He came up to me and apologized and said that he had said something to Marshall,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I see it on the tape and obviously the camera caught him mouthing something. That’s not an issue for us. I don’t foresee anything happening further from our standpoint.”
Newby update
Newby broke his hand against Mississippi State on Saturday. Since then, he has had surgery, but his return to the court this season remains in question.
“We don’t know as far as timetables,” Kennedy said. “Surgery was successful. They put a plate in his hand. If it was a football player, they would tape it up, pad it, and he could probably play within a week or so based on pain tolerance. With it involving the ability to have to catch the ball, that’s not an option for us. It’ll be a day-to-day thing. He’ll certainly be out this week.”
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
