Mississippi guard Jarvis Summers dribbles the ball during a game last week. (File Photo | Ariel Cobbert)
On the first possession of the game, Ole Miss junior shooting guard Stefan Moody drained a three from the corner in front of the Tennessee bench and knocked down his first of six three-pointers. Once again, Moody led the Ole Miss men’s basketball team (19-8, 10-4 SEC) to a 59-57 win over the Tennessee Volunteers (14-12, 6-8 SEC).
Moody played like a man in search of another SEC Player of the Week award, scoring 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting and forcing six steals, which was two shy of the school record. During a sequence late in the second half, Moody exemplified both of those statistics as he stole the ball from Volunteers senior guard Josh Richardson and dribbled it down the court to knock down a fast-break three-pointer in transition with 8:05 remaining in the game. Moody scored eight of his 22 points during a 4:16 stretch when the Rebels went on a 16-3 run to take a 52-47 lead with 8:05 left to play.
“I think he’s locked in now,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “He’s embraced the leadership role. I think he likes you guys talking about him. I think he likes the attention. And he knows if he makes more, he’ll get some more attention. We’re all for him making some more.”
However, it wasn’t just Moody who propelled Ole Miss to a victory. Senior point guard Jarvis Summers found a rhythm offensively to score 13 points and drop eight assists for the Rebels.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence,” Kennedy said. “He’s making hard shots for us. I thought Jarvis really was aggressive tonight. He made some, missed some, but he made some and was really really creating off the bounce.”
Yet this victory took a lot of scratching and clawing as Ole Miss trailed 30-27 at halftime. The Volunteers took a 44-36 lead at the 12:44 mark in the second half as the Tad Pad went silent. However, it was Moody that united the Rebels to score eight points during a 16-3 run that allowed Ole Miss to take a 52-47 lead with 8:05 left.
“We turned up the intensity of our defense,” said Ole Miss shooting guard Stefan Moody. “And our aggression got us steals in the open court, and (we) made some shots.”
The Rebels played very aggressively on defense as they forced 13 turnovers and nine steals. A change in defense helped the Rebels defensively and proved to be costly late in the game.
“The 1-3-1 zone got us back in the game,” Kennedy said. “We turned them over. They had 13 turnovers, and they had a two or three minute segment, where it was very problematic for them. It got Moody in the open floor, and he got to the foul line once, and he made a hard three.”
The rest of the game was a back and forth contest, with Tennessee having a chance to win the game in the final seconds. Tennessee senior guard Josh Richardson shot a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper in the final nine seconds of the game, but both were off the back iron giving Ole Miss the win. Ole Miss gambled on that defensive possession and chose not to foul with two fouls to give.
“When Josh Richardson, their all-league player, was coming off that hand-off, we wanted to reach out and foul him,” Kennedy said. “I was looking at the clock, and I was waiting for a foul to happen. He turned the corner, shot-fakes us and gets a clean look, and finally, we got a kind bounce.”
With the win, Ole Miss is currently tied for third place in the SEC and holds the tiebreaker against Texas A&M, winning the only head-to-head victory of the season. Ole Miss returns to the hardwood this Wednesday as they’ll host the Georgia Bulldogs at 8 p.m. at the Tad Pad.
