Ole Miss has two elite scorers in Marshall Henderson and Jarvis Summers, and the combination of those two can make defending the Rebels a headache.
That’s how Rick Ray sounded after his Bulldogs fell by 19 points on Saturday, as Henderson and Summers each scored 19.
But Ray offered a great breakdown of what Ole Miss tries to do on offense, using Henderson’s threat to shoot and Summers’ ability to drive the lane.
“Here’s what happens when you play Ole Miss. It’s really a four-on-four game,” Ray said. “Because when Marshall Henderson’s out there, you can’t help off him. So, it’s a four-on-four game, and you’re trying to guard Summers. 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 (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.”
So essentially, simple spacing allows Ole Miss too take full advantage of Henderson and Summers’ skill sets.
Let’s take a look at a play that saw Summers penetrating with Henderson on the three-point line that resulted in an offensive rebound.
Ole Miss is in one of its base sets called “horns”. Ole Miss uses this to set up lots of different screens to get Henderson and Summers open. Saiz sets a lot of ball screens, and out of this set, he and Summers run pick-and-rolls all the time.
Summers is going toward Saiz for a ball screen.
But this play is abnormal because rather than having Henderson stand in the corner for maximum spacing, Henderson runs to Summers to set another screen.
Notice that Colin Borchert, who was originally guarding Saiz, has committed to helping on Summers. This is what Ole Miss wants.
As Summers continues to drive baseline, Borchert has continued to chase in help defense. Also, I.J. Ready, the man defending Henderson, provided no help on the screen and has stuck to Henderson, as Ray described.
Because of the focus that Mississippi State is paying to Henderson and Summers, Roquez Johnson is left to defend both of the Ole Miss post players – Sebastian Saiz and Anthony Perez – at the elbows. Also, Fred Thomas is defending Martavious Newby in the corner, but Thomas has completely turned his back to Newby.
Ultimately, Summers gets to the rim and misses. But Saiz, Perez and Newby have all crashed the boards and gotten in position to gab an offensive rebound.
Johnson failed to block out either Saiz or Perez, but even if he had, one still would have been free to crash. Thomas has no idea that Newby has run in behind him.
Saiz catches the rebound and scores a wide open layup, the exact problem Ray described. Saiz ended up with six offensive rebounds, and Ole Miss had 12 as a team.
The Rebels only turned those 12 second chances into 10 points, not a great efficiency, but the opportunities are there. And the problem for Ray and other coaches is figuring out how to defend the Rebels scoring duo, and everyone else once you commit an extra defender to either Henderson or Summers.
The one potential problem for Ole Miss is giving up a fast break, as four Rebels are crashing the boards. The only player in position to get back is Henderson, who is more likely trying to position himself for an open three on a kick out.
The special part of the play Ole Miss ran was Henderson setting a screen. He hasn’t done this very much, but the last few games Ole Miss has shown some action with him in a pick-and-pop.
It is a play with a lot of potential. Isolate your two best scorers and make the defense help off of one. It could lead to Henderson getting open threes.
More than likely, teams will use someone else to help on Summers, like Mississippi State did. But that sets up a three-on-two scenario for the other players on the court.
Henderson and Summers are two of the best scorers in this conference, and Andy Kennedy does a good job of utilizing their different abilities to force defenses into no-win situations.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
