Jarvis Summers dribbles the ball up the court during a game earlier this season. Photo: Ignacio Murillo, The Daily Mississippian.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ole Miss went on the road for the second straight time and took down Vanderbilt 63-52, as the Rebel defense held a depleted Commodore roster to 52 points on 37.7 percent shooting.
“For us to win two of our first three (on the road), it shows that this team is maturing,” head coach Andy Kennedy said. “Every game is close for us; every game is hard. We have to embrace hard, and I think our kids are starting to do a better job of that.”
Ole Miss (13-5, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) used a zone defense the entire first half and for the majority of the second half, and it led to Vanderbilt (9-8, 1-4 SEC) scoring just .57 points per possession in the first half. Vanderbilt entered the game as the most efficient offense against zone defense in the SEC, scoring 1.01 points per possession.
“They had a hard time finding rhythm,” Kennedy said. “They are a team that likes to get up and down the floor, especially at home. That’s the reason we were trying to give them different looks defensively.”
Ole Miss forced 17 total turnovers, 12 of which came in the first half, and scored 16 points off the Commodores turnovers.
Junior guard Jarvis Summers led Ole Miss with 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting, but Ole Miss needed a boost from senior guard Marshall Henderson.
Ole Miss held the lead for the majority of the game, but Vanderbilt stormed back in the second half to take a 46-45 lead with 6:10 left. But Ole Miss responded with an 11-0 run that was highlighted by two Henderson threes in 26 seconds.
“Marshall, he’s our guy,” Summers said. “Whenever he’s in the game, he can shoot 50 balls. We expect every ball to go in. We just keep going to him.”
Henderson finished with 11 points on 4 of 15 shooting from the field and 3 of 10 shooting on threes. Henderson eclipsed the 1,000 point mark in his Ole Miss career. He is just the fourth Rebel to reach that number in two seasons.
Summers also led the team in assists and steals with four each. Junior forward Aaron Jones produced another all-around game, as he ended up with eight points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and three steals.
The Rebels got production from both junior guard LaDarius White and sophomore forward Anthony Perez. Rather than have one player score 20 points like Ole Miss has relied on in the last two SEC games, White scored 11 and Perez had 13.
Vanderbilt did have success all game long going to senior forward Rod Odom, who finished with 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting. Odom gave Ole Miss trouble as a stretch forward, but he was the only consistent threat that Vanderbilt posed.
The Commodores roster is in a lot trouble, as they have just seven healthy scholarship players; only those seven played for Vanderbilt. Due to injuries and a dismissal of their starting guard, Eric McClellan, Vanderbilt has had to dress out a former student manager so that they have 10 players in uniform.
This was the first time ever that Ole Miss has won consecutive away games against Vanderbilt, as Ole Miss came to Memorial Gymnasium last season and won in overtime.
Ole Miss remains tied for second in the SEC at 4-1 and will host Mississippi State on Saturday 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
