Mississippi’s Jarvis Summers drives with the ball during an NCAA college basketball game against Troy in Oxford, Miss., Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. Mississippi won 69-54. (DM Photo/Alex Edwards)
The Ole Miss offense needed someone to step up with senior guard Marshall Henderson suspended, and junior guard Jarvis Summers answered the call as the Ole Miss Rebels beat the Troy Trojans 69-54 in their season opener in the Tad Smith Coliseum Friday night.
Summers torched Troy in the first half as he shot 9 of 11 from the field and 4 of 4 from three for 22 points in 17 minutes. He cooled off in the second half, going 1 of 8 from the field, but still finished with a career-high 28 points.
“I love to shoot the ball,” Summers said. “(I was) feeling good. I (decided) I’m just going to keep shooting and see what happens.”
Summers had a career game, but the rest of the Ole Miss offense struggled. The Rebels posted a points per possession of .87. Last year, Ole Miss had just one game with an efficiency rating under .90.
Ole Miss shot 34.7 percent from the field, and everyone but Summers shot 15 of 53, which is 28 percent. The Rebels did clean up their misses by grabbing 26 offensive rebounds.
“The difference in the game was the fact that we got 23 more field goal attempts,” head coach Andy Kennedy said.
However, the offense still struggled to score after the offensive boards, as they had just 20 second-chance points.
Junior forward Aaron Jones had 13 rebounds, including eight on offense, in his first game since tearing his ACL last season. Jones shot just 2 of 7 from the floor for six points, but played 31 minutes.
Sophomore point guard Derrick Millinghaus picked up some of the offensive slack in the second half, as he scored 10 points in the final 20 minutes on 4 of 8 shooting. He finished the night with 13 points, but was just 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
Ole Miss played well defensively, as it held Troy to 34.7 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers. Troy’s offensive efficiency was low, as it posted .82 points per possession.
Troy couldn’t get guards Antoine Myers and Hunter Williams going, as they combined for 12 points on 5 of 15 shooting. The two scored a combined 42 points in their exhibition win earlier this year.
For Ole Miss, the bigger concern is still the offense. Junior guard LaDarius White shot just 1 of 8, 0 of 5 on 3-pointers and finished with two points. Sophomore forward Anthony Perez had five points on 1 of 6 shooting.
Aside from the offensive rebounds, the front court of Ole Miss did not make Troy pay for playing with four guards. Jones, junior center Demarco Cox, freshman forward Sebastian Saiz and freshman center Dwight Coleby combined for 18 points on 20 shots.
Ole Miss struggled from the free-throw line, as it shot 13 of 23, 56.6 percent, from the stripe.
Ole Miss will take on Coastal Carolina next, as it travels to Conway, S.C., Nov. 16.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
