Ole Miss’ best player, Stefan Moody, went 5-25 from the field, and the Rebels knocked off Vanderbilt 85-78 on Saturday.
“I thought tonight we settled in and made some hard plays,” head coach Andy Kennedy said. “To me I thought that the biggest plays of the game were off missed shots and (Marcanvis Hymon) fighting, Anthony Perez fighting on the offensive glass, fouls, and we go make free throws. Just keeping balls alive with effort.”
Marcanvis Hymon spins around a defender to push towards the basket in Ole Miss’ win over Auburn on Jan 27. (Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
Vanderbilt sophomore forward Luke Kornet torched the Rebels in the first half with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and Wade Baldwin IV got his way with 8 points and five assists, but, with the game at 37-26 with 2:16 left, Ole Miss went on a 11-2 run to close out the half at 39-37.
As the second half went on, however, Vanderbilt started to become ice cold from the field and Ole Miss forced them into turnovers. The Rebels started to take control of the game in the second half.
“The turnovers were key for us,” Kennedy said. “We were trying to keep them out of rhythm. Vanderbilt is a terrific rhythm offensive team. They turned it over 19 times, which tells me that it was effective somewhat, the changing of the defenses.”
A big moment came when Damian Jones of Vanderbilt fouled out with 8:05 left in the game, taking the Commodores’ biggest offensive threat off the floor.
As a result, Ole Miss went to work. They pushed together runs of 11-2 and 10-2 to close away down the stretch— and all of it came with Jones on the bench for Vanderbilt.
Junior Rasheed Brooks provided an offense spark down the stretch with a clutch three and timely baskets as he finished with 15 points, including nine rebounds and 3-of-5 from behind the arc.
Tomasz Gielo had 16 points and Anthony Perez nine points, including a big and-1 to close out the game.
Hymon, undermatched against Vanderbilt’s big men, produced 13 points and eight rebounds. Kennedy said he liked seeing his energy and being a live active body down in the post.
“When we recruited him, we knew he was going to be an undersized post, but he’s long and athletic,” Kenney said. “He’s quick off his feet and right now the game’s going awfully fast for him. He’s making mistakes, but he’s making mistakes full speed.”
Moody acknowledged that it was good to see some of the younger players continue to produce and start to put it together.
“Some of the other guys are forced to step up,” Moody said. “The fact that it’s a long season, sometimes it takes time for younger guys to figure it out and our group is figuring it out.”
“This was huge for our guys, ” Kennedy said. “It shows us what we’re capable of.”
Vanderbilt finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field including 32 percent from three (9-of-28).
The win got Ole Miss back to .500 in SEC play.
The Rebels will travel to Gainesville, Florida on Tuesday to take on the Gators.
