Ole Miss used a 1-3-1 half court defense against Western Kentucky that helped the Rebels go on a run and take the lead in the first half. But it was Mississippi State’s 1-3-1 that decided the game in Starkville.
Mississippi State turned to the 1-3-1 for 21 possessions on Saturday. Ole Miss shot 6 of 20 (30%) from the field (4 of 14 on two pointers and 2 of 6 on three pointers), and scored 14 points. That’s .67 points per possession for a team averaging 1.09 points per possession this season.
The Rebels had six turnovers. That’s a turnover on 28.5 percent of possessions, which is double Ole Miss’ turnover rate for the season, 14.1 percent.
Ole Miss didn’t draw a single foul against the zone defense. The only positive was that the team grabbed five offensive rebounds.
“We did exactly what we want the opponent to do (when we use a 1-3-1),” Andy Kennedy said. “Play on the perimeter and play indecisive, as opposed to getting spread, hitting those gaps and playing behind it.”
And Ole Miss provided a possession of horrors that illustrated exactly what Kennedy described.
Derrick Millinghaus gets the ball across half court with 29 seconds on the shot clock. One of Mississippi State’s big men, Colin Borchert hangs out in the middle to prevent a drive to the basket. Mississippi State is paying special attention to Jarvis Summers in the near corner.
Both guards, Summers and LaDarius White, break up toward Millinghaus. Mississippi State chases both of them, and this where their 1-3-1 gets over extended and is vulnerable. On the back line, Ole Miss has a 2-on-1 opportunity. Anthony Perez and Dwight Coleby are in great position to catch and quickly attack Roquez Johnson for an easy basket. But Millinghaus doesn’t make the pass.
Instead he swings it to LaDarius White, who dribbles back to the middle of the floor. But the Mississippi State defense is still over extended. Four Bulldogs are concentrating on White. Perez and Coleby should still have a 2-on-1, but Coleby has decided to run forward. (He appeared to try and set a ball screen.)
White throws it to Summers, who then dribbles to the middle of the floor. Again, Mississippi State is vulnerable. Three players are focused on Summers, but Ole Miss has terrible spacing, as three players are near the far wing. Summers has no passing window.
Fast forward a few seconds – Summers passed to Millinghaus, who dribbled around then threw it back to Summers.
There are eight seconds on the shot clock. Ole Miss has spent the entire possession dribbling and passing beyond the three point line. Not even has the ball not made it inside the three point line, the ball hasn’t made it to the three point line.
Summers ends up passing the ball to White in the corner – the first time the ball gets to the three point line – and White drives baseline. He falls (I can’t tell if he slipped or was tripped.) and turns the ball over.
This led to an easy basket in transition for Mississippi State. This possession came shortly after Ole Miss had taken the lead on five straight points from Perez. But Mississippi State was in man defense when Ole Miss took the lead. Rick Ray put his team back in the 1-3-1, and it led to two easy baskets in transition, and Mississippi State took the lead.
See the whole possession here.
It wasn’t the refs that cost Ole Miss the game. It was the 21 possessions that Ole Miss couldn’t handle the 1-3-1. Their attempts to attack it were mostly pathetic and often led to transition opportunities for Mississippi State.
Ole Miss has struggled against zone defenses the last two seasons when Marshall Henderson isn’t in the game. Mississippi State exploited that weakness perfectly to pick up the upset.
Tyler Bischoff
— tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
