Ole Miss Rebels forward Sebastian Saiz (11) scrambles for a loose ball during Tuesday’s game against BYU in Dayton, Ohio. Ole Miss defeated BYU 94-90.
(Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
After a huge comeback Tuesday night against BYU, the Rebels now must quickly shift their focus to No. 6 seed Xavier today in Jacksonville, Florida.
It was a tale of two halves for the Rebels, as the offense struggled against the Cougars, scoring only 32 points on 12-of-40 shooting from the field. In the second half, we saw a different team, and the offense clicked in a big way, scoring 62 points on 24-of-40 shooting from the field.
The Rebels pulled off the biggest comeback of the NCAA Tournament so far, led by junior guard Stefan Moody, who scored 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field and helped start off a 15-2 run in the second half to take the lead.
That performance saved the Rebels in the first four, but it must be duplicated today against Xavier in order to advance to the round of 32.
Moody was the key player to watch for in order for the Rebels to pick up the tournament win against BYU, and he delivered.
Before BYU, Moody was shooting 26 percent from the field over the last five games, but against BYU, he awoke from his slumber. Head coach Andy Kennedy moved Moody around the court off screens and opened up shots for the star guard, allowing him to knock down over 50 percent of them. If Moody keeps this play up, the Rebels will be a hard team to beat, especially against Xavier.
Xavier finished the season with a 21-13 overall record, going 9-9 in the Big East Conference. The Musketeers have picked up some quality wins against tournament teams over the course of the season, including three wins over Georgetown and wins over Butler, Cincinnati and Providence.
The Musketeers are also no strangers to playing against Southeastern Conference opponents. They went 2-1 against SEC teams, picking up wins against Alabama and Missouri, and their one loss came against Auburn in overtime on Dec. 20.
The loss to Auburn was one of the few mind-boggling losses Xavier has suffered. They had more bad losses to Creighton, DePaul and Long Beach State. After these tough losses, the Musketeers pulled off some quality wins to help them advance to the tournament for the 25th time.
Xavier is a balanced team on offense with six players averaging over eight points per game. Xavier is led by their leading scorer, senior center Matt Stainbrook.
Stainbrook is the focal point of the offense and is what makes the offense work. Stainbrook brings size to the front court at 6-foot-10, 265 pounds and has a strong skill set as he averages 12 points and seven rebounds per game. The Rebels don’t have a lot of size and strength in the front-court, so Stainbrook could be a problem down low.
What Xavier does well is being efficient on offense.
The Musketeers shoot 47 percent from the field on the season and rarely turn the ball over. The Rebels forced 15 turnovers against BYU and will somehow need to create points on turnovers against a Xavier team that is secure with the basketball.
Xavier is not particularly a good rebounding team, and that can be an advantage for the Rebels in order to win the game.
The Rebels reeled in 43 rebounds against BYU, and three players had over seven rebounds in the contest. When Xavier is efficient on offense, the rebounding woes won’t be an issue. If the Rebels can play defense like they did in the second half Tuesday against Xavier today, then the Rebels could march on.
One player who needs to step up for the Rebels is senior point guard Jarvis Summers.
Summers was off all game against BYU as he shot 5-for-21 from the field with 11 points. Summers was more of a point guard than a scorer as he totaled 10 assists for the game, setting up his teammates with open shots. Summers needs to be more of a scorer and take some pressure off of Moody in order for the Rebels to move on past Xavier.
If the Rebels continue playing like they did in the second half against BYU, they could possibly upset No. 6 seed Xavier, but a lot of things need to go right.
