Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hogs plan to track Moody everywhere
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson is prepared to do whatever it takes defensively to slow Mississippi guard Stefan Moody during Saturday’s 1 p.m. game at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.
“We may have to put two people on him,” Anderson said at his Thursday news conference. “He’s that good. He’s very gifted, very athletic.
His range is when he gets into the gym.”
Moody, a 5-10 guard from Kissimmee, Fla., is one of the most dynamic scorers to pass
through the SEC in recent memory. The 179-pound senior leads the SEC and ranks No. 7 nationally in scoring with 23.3 points per game.
The Rebels’ point guard is far from a spot-up shooter, even though he’s made numerous three-pointers from NBA range and beyond in his career. Moody’s ability to drive and force contact or pass to open shooters is elite. He leads the SEC with 8.3 free throws taken per game and is tied for 12th in the NCAA with 192 free throws taken. Moody hits 84.4 percent of his free throws, tied for 65th in the NCAA.
“If you try to crowd him, he can get to the basket on you,” LSU Coach Johnny Jones said. “And he’s very explosive getting there. He has an unbelievable vertical getting up over defenders and making plays.
“Moody is capable of hitting you a lot of different ways, and I don’t think he has any limit to his range in terms of when he comes off picks. He can raise over high hands and shoot over defenders.”
Moody scored 34 points as Ole Miss split a pair of games against Arkansas last season. He made 5 of 9 shots, 2 of 3 from three-point range, and 6 of 8 free throws in 25 minutes en route to 18 points in the Rebels’ 96-82 victory at Arkansas on Jan. 17. In Arkansas’ 71-70 victory at Ole Miss on Feb. 14, Moody went 7 of 18 from the floor, 1 of 6 from three-point range and 1 of 2 on free throws while scoring 16 points in 34 minutes.
Anderson said Moody is one of the toughest SEC players to guard in recent memory.
“I think pound for pound he is,” he said. “He’s just so elusive, so quick and athletic. He knows how to score. He’s certainly one of those guys that you have to pay attention to, and that’s going to be the charge of this team. We’ve got to make sure we know where he is at all times.”
Moody’s value to the Rebels is easy to quantify. When he was slowed by a hamstring injury in the second half against South Carolina, Ole Miss blew a 64-53 lead with 5:17 left in regulation and lost 77-74 in overtime at home. The Rebels lost 83-77 at Mississippi State without Moody in their next game, but they returned to the win column when Moody scored 24 points, including 19 in the second half, in an 80-63 rout of Auburn.
“He’s capable of taking games over,” Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said. “We either did a good job of containing him in the first half, or he just deferred and let the other guys play a little. But then when he decided it was time for him to do what he does, he did whatever he wanted to do.”
Alabama Coach Avery Johnson said Moody was as good as advertised after the feisty guard made 13 of 16 free throws and scored 21 points in a 74-66 victory in Ole Miss’ first game at The Pavilion on Jan. 6.
“He reminds me a lot of little Nate Robinson, who’s played in the NBA for a number of years,” Johnson said. “He brings a lot of energy and can shoot it from anywhere on the floor. I think he made what was probably a 35 or 40 foot three-pointer on us. He shot it like it was a 12-foot shot.”
Anderson chastised his team for a weak defensive effort in the Razorbacks’ 78-46 loss at Mississippi State on Tuesday. The Bulldogs shot 52.9 percent, the best by an Arkansas opponent this season.
“We have to take pride in our defense, and I don’t know if there was much pride in it that particular night,” Anderson said. “I made sure our guys understood that, the pride part of it.”
Anderson said he did not make the Razorbacks watch tape of the debacle in Starkville, Miss., in which his team shot a season-low 22.2 percent.
“That page has been turned,” he said. “We flushed that out of our system. We burned the tape, and you move forward.”
Arkansas, which had lost by an average of 3.0 points per game against upper-level SEC teams LSU, Georgia and Florida in its three road outings before Mississippi State, is 1-7 on the road.
“I was surprised by the score, and then I watched the game,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said of the Hogs’ 32-point loss at Mississippi State. “It was crazy.
“They lost by three at Wake Forest, in overtime at Dayton, and we all know how difficult that is, and then they lose five [road] games in league play, but that was the only one honestly that got away from them.”
Kennedy said the return of center Sebastian Saiz this week after two eye surgeries is critical for his team against Arkansas.
“They’re a very formidable opponent, a group that may be playing with the most improved
player in college basketball, a guy I’m very familiar with as we recruited him heavily, Moses Kingsley,” he said. “He went from averaging about 3 points per game last year to a guy that’s a walking double-double, plus blocking shots. It’s very important to have Sebastian back.”