The Daily Mississippian men’s basketball beat writer Tyler Bischoff will break down Ole Miss basketball each Tuesday and Thursday leading up to 2013-14 season. In part two of the seven-part series, Bischoff looks at utilizing Henderson’s threat to open up plays for other players.
Ole Miss will be searching for a second scoring option this season and a good bet would be to find someone capable of taking his man off the dribble and finishing at the rim. If Ole Miss can get someone to do this, it will cause the defense to send a defender to help. The Rebels can take advantage of this by designing a play so that the help defender will come off of senior guard Marshall Henderson.
Ole Miss did this against Missouri with Murphy Holloway. Here you see Marshall Henderson in the far corner guarded by Keion Bell. Jarvis Summers is passing the ball to Holloway on the near elbow.
Once Holloway receives the pass, Summers and Reggie Buckner cut to the opposite side of the court to give Henderson and Holloway a two on two.
Notice, Henderson never leaves the corner. Also, Phil Pressey, who was guarding Jarvis Summers actually chases Holloway leaving Summers open.
Two defensive players are in a position to help. Either Alex Oriakhi, who is guarding Buckner or, Bell, who is guarding Henderson, have to come help. If either one comes too early, then Holloway will have an easy pass for either a layup or open three.
Oriakhi finally comes to help, but it is too late as Holloway is already shooting. Bell never leaves Henderson in the corner.
When Holloway begins his shooting motion, Summers and LaDarius White are both wide open beyond the three-point line. From three-point range, Summers shot 34 percent and White shot 35 percent. A slight improvement in their shooting could make them lethal on plays like this.
But the key here is Bell not leaving Henderson in the corner. Play designs like this can force defenses to choose between giving up a layup or a Henderson three.
But it is contingent upon someone becoming a reliable penetrator. White is someone who may be able to step into this role. White had 52 isolations, according to Synergy Sports. He scored 47 points on those drives, a good but not great number. If he can improve in finishing at the rim then he can become the key player for this design.
Point guard Derrick Millinghaus was most used in transition and the pick and roll last year. If he and Henderson can develop a good transition chemistry, they might be able to pull this off on the fly. Ole Miss may be able to run a variation of this with a pick and roll for Millinghaus that makes the defense defend a pick and roll and decide whether or not to help off of Henderson.
Due to his shooting, Henderson will garner the defense’s attention. Ole Miss would be wise to use him as decoy and to give defenses a difficult decision of whether or not to help off of him.
Pictures and stats courtesy of Synergy Sports.
Part One: Breaking down the Rebels’ most used play
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
