Ole Miss’ defense impresses in win over MSU
After Ole Miss lost to Georgia on Saturday, Rebels coach Kermit Davis described his team as an “elite defense against mid-major teams but a very average defense against Power 5 teams.”
In Tuesday night's 64-46 win over Mississippi State, that elite defense finally showed up against a Power 5 opponent.
Ole Miss (7-6, 2-4 SEC) stymied the Bulldogs all night. Mississippi State (9-6, 4-3 SEC) shot 34.6% from the floor and 28.6% from 3-point distance and coughed up as many turnovers as it logged assists. The Bulldogs entered Tuesday averaging 13.4 offensive rebounds per game but ended with only eight, leading to just four points.
Mississippi State's 46 points are the fewest Ole Miss has allowed versus an SEC opponent since March 6, 2004 when the Rebels held Arkansas to 45 points.
Davis and point guard Devontae Shuler both spoke highly of the way Ole Miss defended and rebounded from its 2-3 zone. Rebounding from zone hadn't been a strong point for the Rebels, but it was Tuesday when Ole Miss' guards combined to outrebound Mississippi State's guards 19-13.
“I thought our hedges were a lot better tonight, our bigs did much better, Jarkel (Joiner), Devontae and Matt (Murrell) and all those guys competed harder on the ball,” Davis said. “And then I thought our zone defense kept them out of the paint. Maybe that's something that we've gotten better at and have a little confidence in, so maybe that's something we can make some adjustments to and play some more of.”
The zone also took away Mississippi State's offensive bread and butter. The Bulldogs averaged 34.3 points in the paint in its first six SEC contests, but the Rebels held them to 22 paint points.
Ole Miss was at its most dominant in nonconference play when it was forcing turnovers, turning offensive rebounds into points and scoring well in transition. The Rebels went back to that formula Tuesday. Ole Miss scored 11 points off 12 Mississippi State turnovers, 13 secondchance points off nine offensive rebounds and nine points in transition.
The truth about this Ole Miss team is that when its gameplan works, the Rebels shouldn't need to score more than 60. Davis said as much after the Georgia game, when he lamented that 74 points should've been enough for his team to win by “plenty.”
To Shuler, the way Ole Miss stuck to the gameplan and cruised might be a template for future success.
“Us going to the zone defense is going to help us stop the ball, and it keeps everyone compacted together,” Shuler said.
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.