Three observations from Ole Miss basketball's 73-58 win over Mississippi Valley State
Ole Miss basketball (4-2) started a three-game home stand on Friday with a 73-58 over Mississippi Valley State. Here is what we learned.
Is there a reason for concern?
Ole Miss was putting itself in a bad position, RPI-wise, just by tipping off against Mississippi Valley State. According to the KenPom rankings, the Delta Devils came into Friday’s game dead last at No. 358.
Then the game began and the Rebels did not play badly, but they did not play like a team Vegas has favored by nearly 42 points.
In a game that should have served as a get-better game coming off a poor showing in Charleston last weekend, Ole Miss’ play resembled more of one against a Top 10 opponent.
“We’re in the SEC and give (MVSU) credit but our team just didn’t have any juice,” said head coach Kermit Davis. “I go back to the tournament in Charleston; we played really hard against Elon. We had some pockets of good play and then we’d have four or five minutes (of bad play) and (today) was just 20 minutes, I don’t know, we just couldn’t get any rhythm offensively.”
It took until 7:21 remaining in the game for the Rebels to get a comfortable double-digit lead, which was also their first double-digit lead on the afternoon.
They settled down the final eight minutes, but it cold also be a harbinger of things to come with a December slate that includes much tougher opponents, including Dayton and Memphis.
Starting lineup gets a makeover
Davis had hinted he would shake up the staring five periodically and Friday’s starting line up was first evidence of such.
Tye Fagan got the nod over Jarkel Joiner at the guard position while Robert Allen got a start at forward.
The determining factor for Friday’s starting five was how they stacked up on a point sheet accountability system determined by all hustle factors such as charges, deflections, assists, offensive rebounds over the practice week.
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“Jarkel had been first or second all preseason, but he finished like sixth or seventh (on the chart), so those were the first five guys that we started,” Davis said.
“I didn’t think we got off to a great, great start by any means. We’ve been starting games pretty good.”
Joiner came off the bench within the first five minutes and finished with 15 points and three assists.
Brooks continuing to get comfortable underneath
One bright spot on the day was the play of Nysier Brooks, the transfer from Miami (Fla.), who recorded his first double-double as a Rebel.
Brooks scored 15 of the Rebels’ 28 points in the paint and pulled down 10 rebounds. Though six games, Brooks is continuing to be a presences under the basket.
Yes, these are not top-level opponents, but any success is good success for a player who is still learning a new system and adjusting to his teammates.
“I’m still in an adaptive mode,” Brooks said. “Trying to learn which players, like, how people play. Who pass the ball a certain way? Who I know that if we got to make an emergency switch they just going to switch. Just different stuff like that. Just knowing my own teammates.”
