OXFORD — Mississippi State University men’s basketball coach Rick Stansbury played the percentages Wednesday night and came out on the wrong end.
For the first time this season, the Bulldogs’ 14th-year head coach decided to use a 2-3 zone defense. The philosophy was clear, MSU was going to make the University of Mississippi, which entered the game shooting 29.6 percent from 3-point range, to shoot over the top of them to win.
That’s what Ole Miss accomplished in a 75-68 victory in front of a raucous crowd of 8,404 at Tad Smith Coliseum. The effort left MSU (15-4, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) looking for its first conference win away from Starkville.
“We had to choose your poison a little bit and they were 4-for-10 at halftime (on 3-pointers),” Stansbury said. “Stats say they haven’t shot it consistently. But then they get nine points off putbacks.”
The Rebels (12-6, 2-2) allow point guard Jarvis Summers, team-high 38.6 percent from 3-point range entering the game, fire away from long
distance. The freshman from Jackson scored half of his 12 points from 3-point range. Without Summers’ 3-point numbers, Ole Miss was 24.8
percent from long range (59 of 237), but it also got Terrance Henry (1 of 3) and Jelan Kendrick (1 of 2) to connect in a 4-for-13 team effort from 3-point range.
Ole Miss junior guard Nick Williams, a transfer from Indiana
University, had his third consecutive double-figure effort in SEC play with 17 points. He was 7 of 9 from the free-throw line in 37 minutes.
“Teams have been getting to the basket too easy on us on the road, and that’s something we’re going to have to fix immediately,” MSU freshman guard Rodney Hood said.
Last season, Stansbury veered away from his man-to-man philosophy due to the depth concerns and the conditioning issues of center Renardo Sidney. This season, the addition of better athletes (specifically Hood and University of Texas at El Paso transfer Arnett Moultrie) and the emergence of forward Wendell Lewis off the bench have allowed the Bulldogs to feel more comfortable playing opponents man to man.
Ole Miss found holes in MSU’s zone defense and penetrated into the lane, something neither the University of Tennessee nor the University of Alabama accomplished last week in Starkville. Penetration by guards allowed Ole Miss to shoot 50 percent from the field (27 of 54) and 17 of 30 from the free-throw line en route to its second-highest scoring total of the season.
MSU allowed the University of Arkansas to have its season-high scoring total in a 98-88 loss on Jan. 7 in Fayetteville, Ark.
“The biggest advantage to me is the free-throw line,” Stansbury said. “Last year, they attempted five free throws (in Oxford), and this year they get 30. That’s a huge stat.”
Ole Miss leading scorer Reginald Bucker and forward Terrance Henry combined to score 31 points to help the Rebels earn a 36-26 edge in points in the paint. Arkansas had 46 points in the paint in its win against MSU earlier this month.
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