Marshall Henderson (22) and Sebastian Saiz (11) celebrate with fans after Saturday’s 82-63 win over Mississippi State.
Thomas Graning I The Daily Mississippian
From a four-point defeat to a 19-point victory — 23 points — that’s the swing from the first to the second meeting between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. And the major factor in the turnaround that resulted in an 82-63 Ole Miss win Saturday was senior guard Marshall Henderson.
He takes the most shots on the team; he has the highest usage rate. His shooting keeps Ole Miss in games it has no business being in, and everything that is Marshall Mania helped to secure a Southeastern Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth last season.
But not only does Henderson score and create absurd amounts of energy, he changes the way defenses play. Because of that, his teammates’ production can soar with him simply being on the court.
“Here’s what happens when you play Ole Miss,” Mississippi State head coach Rick Ray said. “It’s really a four-on-four game. Because when Marshall Henderson’s out there, you can’t help off him.”
He takes a defender completely out of the play by just being on the court. If he just stands in the corner, his teammates get more space and have fewer bodies to fight through for open looks and loose balls.
And with junior guard Jarvis Summers’ ability to attack defenses, Ole Miss can force defenses to over help.
“It’s a four-on-four game, and you’re trying to guard Summers,” Ray said. “Summers has a chance of penetrating one way, and if he penetrates that way, it’s going to be Henderson on that side, or it’s going to be Snoop (junior guard LaDarius White) on the other side. So now, if you close out bad and get beat off the penetration, bigs have to help. And when your bigs have to help, (Ole Miss) gets offensive rebounds.”
Starting big men junior Aaron Jones and freshman Sebastian Saiz combined for nine offensive boards and 14 points against Mississippi State. Jones had a thunderous tip slam off of a missed Henderson three in the first half.
But beyond the frontcourt cleaning up, White had 11 points and sophomore forward Anthony Perez scored nine more – he has 44 points in the last three games. But those contributions aren’t possible, or at least not very easy, without Henderson’s presence.
Henderson’s presence forces opponents to abandon zone defense. When Ole Miss and Mississippi State met in Starkville, Ray turned to a 1-3-1 zone that dumbfounded Ole Miss. The Rebels scored just .67 points per possession against that Bulldog zone. For the season, Ole Miss is scoring 1.08 points per possession.
But for the 34 minutes Henderson played on Saturday, Mississippi State didn’t — and couldn’t, for fear of Henderson getting open threes — play zone defense. But when Henderson checked out in the first half, Mississippi State immediately went zone. Kennedy brought his shooter back in just 1:12 later.
This game was the perfect example of Henderson’s impact when he isn’t shooting well. He was just two of 12 on threes but still caused Mississippi State to focus on him primarily.
And because the Bulldogs were running him off the 3-point line and forcing him into tough shots, Henderson was able to get into the lane and produce.
He had four assists, the best of which was an alley-oop to Jones after Henderson had run through elevator screens and Mississippi State overcommitted to Henderson.
He also managed to score inside the arc, as he went five of five on 2-pointers, which was a career-high for 2-pointers made.
This did not please Ray.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Ray said. “There’s no reason you should get beat off the bounce by Marshall Henderson.”
Mississippi State isn’t the best defensive team; it ranks 10th in defensive rating. Henderson took advantage of an overaggressive and overwhelmed defense.
The challenges will get tougher, but Marshall Henderson changes everything for Ole Miss.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
