The Rebels’ leading scorer, Stefan Moody, tallied a single point in the first half— yet Ole Miss only trailed 37-35 at the break. The senior finished with 17 points on 4 of 17 shooting from the field, including 0 of 7 from 3-point range.
Marcanvis Hymon goes in for a dunk in a game earlier this semester. (Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
With Moody struggling, the Rebels had to find other scoring options to come out victorious, and they did. Ole Miss had four scorers in double-figures as Tomasz Gielo scored 15 points, Anthony Perez and Sebastian Saiz both added 11 points, and Marcanvis Hymon added 10 points along with 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
“It was a team effort,” Coach Andy Kennedy said. “The game had no flow for us early, but in the second half we were able to put together multiple stops with our man-to-man defense, and that was encouraging.”
Mike Anderson, Arkansas head coach, said the game plan was to pay close attention to Moody and have other Rebels beat them.
“I thought that was going to be a big key. We were going to pay attention to Moody because he’s a tremendous player,” Anderson said. “I thought those other guys did a good job for them. You always worry about those other guys going off, and they did. That’s a credit to them, and Moody as well.”
The Rebels have suddenly gotten healthy and are starting to get consistent production from Gielo and Perez. The Rebels have work to do, but the NCAA tournament is possible.
“There are no more excuses for us,” Gielo said. “We have everybody back. The team is relatively healthy, and everybody is able to play. Now it’s time for us to step up and make the run when it matters.”
Next Up
Ole Miss will travel to College Station to take on a top-25 team in Texas A&M on Tuesday at 8 p.m. The Aggies have lost four games in a row, and Ole Miss can’t afford to lose this game if they have their sights set on playing meaningful games in late March.
Quote Of The Game:
Tomasz Gielo: “Every other team, all they can talk about is, ‘We have to stop Moody if we’re going to win.’ When you have other guys step up, the other team has to scratch their head. The best teams are the ones that are not one-way teams. We can’t just say, ‘Let’s try to win that game by having Stefan go for 40,’ even though he can do that. What matters is, can everyone else step up?”
Fun Facts
Ole Miss held a 47-29 rebounding advantage over Arkansas.
Ole Miss held Arkansas’ leading scorer, Dusty Hannahs, scoreless.
Tomasz Gielo averaged 16.8 points in his last four games.
Moving Forward:
According to warrennolan.com, Ole Miss’ RPI is 87, and the Rebels only have one top 50 RPI win on their resume (Alabama). With six regular season games left on the schedule, Ole Miss would have a realistic shot to make the NCAA tournament if they finish 5-1 or better. The Rebels could win the SEC Tournament and none of these six remaining games would mean anything, but that is a tough task.
