Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson (22) and forward Sebastian Saiz (11) react with fans after an NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. Mississippi won 82-63. (Photo/Thomas Graning)
Ole Miss will host one of the best teams in the country as the No. 2 Florida Gators come to Oxford Saturday in a Southeastern Conference showdown.
“We’re going to have to play an ‘A’ game to give ourselves a chance,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. “We’ve got to make sure we take the right approach to beat a team of their caliber.”
Florida (24-2, 13-0 SEC) has won 18 straight games dating back to Dec. 10, while Ole Miss (16-10, 7-6) has lost four of its last five games. The Gators are one of the best defensive teams in the country, and they are by far the best defensive team in the SEC. Florida has a defensive rating of 90.9, four points better than the second-best team. Ole Miss’ defense ranks in the lower half of the SEC, at 101.2.
The Gator defense is led by senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin, who may be the top defender in the SEC.
“I think he’s a terrific on-ball defender,” Kennedy said. “Our anticipation would be that he’s going to guard Marshall off the ball. He’s very, very good at fighting through screens, reading defenses.”
Florida plays a high-pressure, frequent trapping defense. The Gators will pick up full court and look to trap, and they’ll trap in the post and on ball screens. This aggressive style has led to Florida having the conference’s most efficient defense, but in its last game, Auburn forced Florida out of its trapping.
Auburn shot the ball extremely well, making 10 of 19 3-pointers, and shot 47 percent from the field. Only one SEC team has shot over 50 percent against Florida — Alabama back on Feb. 8.
So Ole Miss will have to knock down shots. The Rebels shoot the most 3s in the SEC, 22.2 per game, and make them at the third-highest percentage, 36.5 percent. If Marshall Henderson, Jarvis Summers and someone else like Anthony Perez or LaDarius White can knock down shots, Ole Miss can force Florida to abandon its trapping defense.
On Tuesday against Kentucky, Martavious Newby played in his first game since breaking his hand on Jan. 25. Newby missed six games, and the Rebels missed the presence of their best defender. Newby has the best defensive rating on the team.
After the Kentucky game, Kennedy said he had no intention of playing Newby but went to him for energy. Ole Miss outscored Kentucky by eight with him on the floor, in a game they lost by 14.
Offensively for Florida, Casey Prather leads the Gators with 15.7 points per game on 62.8 percent shooting. Five players average at least nine points for Florida, including sharpshooter Michael Frazier, 12.1 points per game and 45.1 percent 3-point shooting, and forward Patric Young, who is scoring 10.7 points and grabbing 6.3 rebounds per game.
“They are truly the consummate team,” Kennedy said. “I think it is Billy (Donovan)’s best job, since I’ve been a part of the league for eight years.”
The game will start at 11 a.m. at Tad Smith Coliseum and will be televised on CBS.
