The Ole Miss men’s basketball team finished their 2014-15 season with a 76-57 loss to Xavier in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, last Thursday afternoon.
“It was a tough afternoon for us, but I’m really proud of our group for getting to the NCAA Tournament and advancing in the NCAA Tournament,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “We certainly did not play well, and all the credit goes to Xavier. They were in complete control of tempo from the start, and we were never able to wrestle it away from them.”
Despite the loss, there’s no denying that the season was a success. After coming off a season where Ole Miss failed to make the NCAA Tournament or the National Invitational Tournament in Marshall Henderson’s senior year, the Rebels rallied back to replace Henderson with a more athletic and efficient scorer in junior guard Stefan Moody. The junior guard led the team in scoring, with 16.6 points per game and missed just 10 free throws all season.
But what separated this year’s group from last year’s team was the seniors.
Henderson was the only senior last season, and he didn’t provide what you would call “senior leadership” after being suspended earlier in the season. However, the tandem efforts of Jarvis Summers, LaDarius White, M.J. Rhett, Aaron Jones and Terence Smith gave Ole Miss an extra boost that won them many games this season.
“We’re not here without Jarvis, Stefan, Aaron, M.J. and Terence,” Kennedy said. “We’re not in the NCAA, and we’re certainly not in the position that we were to have the chance to advance. I’m proud of those guys and what they were able to accomplish.”
Although the Rebels had their inconsistencies and head-shaking losses to Charleston Southern, TCU, Western Kentucky and more, it was still amazing that Ole Miss was able to overcome seven home losses to make the NCAA Tournament. Big road wins over Oregon, Arkansas and a season sweep of Florida showed us why this team was among the best 68 teams to make the field.
“When the magazines came out in September, October, nobody had the Rebels pegged as an NCAA Tournament team,” Kennedy said. “Not one, because I use that as motivation. They’re still all over our walls in our locker room. Not one person believed this team could be here.”
Needless to say, the program is headed in the right direction after picking up their fifth NCAA Tournament win of all time after knocking off BYU in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, last Tuesday night.
Their hope now is to rebuild the team with Scout.com five-star guard Malik Newman from Callaway High School in Jackson, Mississippi. The Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year led Callaway to a 31-2 record and another state championship. Newman was among a class that won their fourth consecutive Class 5A state championship. Newman ranks Ole Miss near the top of his list of schools where he could commit in April.
This team will look completely different next season with Summers, White, Rhett, Jones and Smith all graduating and moving on from Ole Miss. Moody is most likely coming back for the Rebels, and the combination of Moody and Newman should provide some excitement in the offense for Ole Miss going forward. It will be a completely different team next season, but watch Ole Miss; they will make some noise in the SEC once again.
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