Ole Miss is 3-0, and the offense finally showed some life by scoring 111 points and posting a 1.39 points per possession in their victory over Mississippi Valley State. The Rebels look to continue that success, as they play host to North Carolina A&T Tuesday at 3 p.m.
In their win over MVSU, the Rebels got career high scoring nights from sophomore point guard Derrick Millinghaus, junior forward Demarco Cox and sophomore forward Anthony Perez.
Millinghaus has been the most aggressive Rebel all season. For better or for worse, he is shooting 13 times per game. This season, he has raised his field goal percentage to 43.6 percent, from 34.2 percent last season.
Ole Miss needs Millinghaus for his offensive aggression and potential. He makes things happen. But Ole Miss needs him to be more efficient and smarter with the ball. He has an assist percentage of 15.93. Not terrible, but junior guard Jarvis Summers is at 25.73 percent.
Getting to the basket and drawing help defense is what Millinghaus excels at. And it results in big games when the opposing team doesn’t have rim protectors, but when someone does have a shot blocker, Millinghaus’ shots becomes target practice.
When he does drive and draw help, he has to get better at dishing to the open man. Court vision. His quickness and handles are a great asset, but can be better when he finds a guard for a open three or a post for an easy dunk.
Cox benefitted from his teammates finding him open under the basket against Mississippi Valley State. Cox scored 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting. All six of his made shots were either dunks or layups, and five of the six were assisted by his teammates.
Cox isn’t a shot creator, but his game against Mississippi Valley is an example of what can happen if Millinghaus finds the open man.
Junior guard LaDarius White finally found his shot. After posting a horrendous 1 of 12 shooting in the first two games, White bounced back by scoring 13 points and knocking down 5 of 7 shots, including both of his three pointers.
White also played some time at point guard. Summers has been playing off of the ball more frequently due to Millinghaus’ extended minutes, but using White as a point guard seemed as only a desperation move, like last year when Summers went down in the SEC Tournament and White became the backup point guard. This may be a move to get White more involved with the offense, or it may be looking to allow Summers more freedom as a scorer by moving off of the ball and into the 2-guard spot even more.
Freshman forward Dwight Coleby didn’t play against Valley due to shin splints, which left Ole Miss with three scholarship post players. Due to the lack of depth in the frontcourt, Perez had to play inside. And Perez has actually been playing at 6-foot-9, which has led to his offense improving – 27 points on 18 shots this year – and allows Andy Kennedy the luxury of playing him inside and out.
Now, Ole Miss will take on the North Carolina A&T Aggies on Tuesday in Oxford.
North Carolina A&T won the MEAC Tournament Championship last season and got their first ever NCAA Tournament win – they knocked off Liberty in a play-in game between 16 seeds.
This year, the Aggies are 1-3. They won their opener over Greensboro College, who plays in Division III. In their last game, they lost to Georgia Tech 78-71, but they held a four-point lead at halftime and had a nine-point lead early in the second half.
Their biggest issue against Georgia Tech was fouling. The Aggies committed 34 fouls, two players fouled out and three more finished with four fouls, which led to Georgia Tech shooting 46 free throws.
Scoring wise, Richaud Pack has averaged 19 points through four games. The senior guard scored 30 in their opener, and has scored at least 12 in every game, including 19 against Georgia Tech. Pack is 10 of 16 on three pointers this season, making 2.5 per game. He is a transfer in his first year with North Carolina A&T; he spent his first two years at Florida International, where he played in 20 games. Pack has come off of the bench in all four games, but has played the second most minutes on the team.
Pack is averaging an absurd 2.13 point per shot this season, a byproduct of 63 percent three-point shooting.
Joining Pack in the backcourt is Lamont Middleton, who has also scored at least 12 points in each game this season, including a season-high 27 against Greensboro. Middleton averaged 12.3 points per game last year and scored 14 in the Aggies NCAA Tournament victory.
Pack and Middleton are seniors, as is Aggie point guard Jeremy Underwood. Underwood is averaging 6.5 points and 3.5 assists per game but shooting just 27 percent this year.
This game is a part of the Barclay’s Classic (so was the Mississippi Valley State game), which Ole Miss will take part in after Thanksgiving. While Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Penn State and St. John’s play at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, North Carolina A&T, Mississippi Valley State, Longwood and Monmouth will play in West Long Branch, N.J., the home of Monmouth.
Ole Miss and North Carolina A&T tipoff Tuesday from Tad Smith Coliseum at 3 p.m.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
