Ole Miss Hoops wins season opener, plus a look at the Aggies
More than a few basketball thoughts plus a closer looker at Texas A&M
Hope everyone is having a good week. We have a new podcast out with former Andy Kennedy staffer Bracken Ray, who will be joining us throughout basketball season, to chat for a bit after Ole Miss’s season-opening win over New Orleans on Tuesday night. Texas A&M beat writer Travis Brown followed that up with a preview of this weekend’s game. Check that out here or anywhere you get your podcasts.
We’ve got both of those topics to dive into today.
Ole Miss Hoops tops New Orleans 82-61
The Rebels opened the season with a win on Tuesday evening. New Orleans isn’t good at all, but was picked to finish second in the Southland according to preseason polls, for whatever that is worth. Here are some thoughts about the team. Please don’t take them as sweeping observations after 40 minutes of basketball but rather a bit of a season preview outlook with a one-game sample size.
1. Ole Miss started slow last night. The Rebels were down 17-11 at one point. Then, Kermit Davis elected to go to the extended 1-3-1 defense and at it gave UNO fits. Ole Miss went on a 20-2 run and the game was never really in doubt after that. Not that it really matters, but I imagine Davis would’ve preferred not to have had to do that so early in the game, just because these coaches often play a lot of straight up man-to-man defense against inferior competition to see what kind of defenders they have on their own team. But it worked, and it also helped spark Ole Miss on the other end of the floor. Turnovers led to easy buckets in transition and open looks on the perimeter. That really seemed to help Ole Miss settle in offensively.
2. Austin Crowley catalyzed that 20-2 run by hitting three 3-pointers. He finished with 13 points to lead all scorers. Crowley had a rough season last year. I am a little surprised he wasn’t processed, but Ole Miss needs him to be a reliable ball handler and decent perimeter shooter. He looked like both last night.
3. Nysier Books did some nice things. The 7-footer who transferred from Miami and previously played at Cincinnati is a good rim protector and looked every bit of the part in the win. He also looked more skilled offensively than what I imagined him being from reading about him and the limited game highlights I watched. If he can offer just a little something in the low post, that’s a great sign. He’s strictly a back-to-the-basket player, and won’t ever be a guy the offense runs through like Romello White was last year, but he’s also not Dominik Olejniczak on that end of the floor either.
4. One of the things that made Ole Miss such an offensively-challenged team last year was the inability of its guards to beat guys off the dribble. It was a lot of horizontal, aimless dribbling without production. Davis reshaped his roster with this in mind. He didn’t land a dynamic scorer in the transfer portal, but he got more athletic and malleable on the wings — and brought in the state’s top-ranked high school player in Daeshun Ruffin. I am curious to see if this staff rectified this issue.
5. Speaking of malleability, this roster is definitely more versatile than it was last year. Ole Miss has some really interesting pieces. Pretty much everyone outside of Brooks played on the perimeter in some form on offense last night and the Rebels even showed some five-out motion offense when Brooks wasn’t on the floor. Everyone besides the 5-foot-9 Ruffin and the towering Brooks is in that 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-9 range and can play multiple positions. In a loaded SEC, I think this versatility will help Ole Miss against teams with superior talent. Not only will they have more options in defensive match ups, I think they’ll be able to play a couple different ways offensively at different paces. Last year this team was slow and was almost exclusively a half-court offense team. I think there will still be a lot of that but the Rebels will have the ability to run more this year. I don’t think that even really has much to do with the game last night, but you did see a flashes of it in the win.
6. Former five-star recruit and Duke transfer Jaemyn Brakefield made his debut last night and looked pretty good defensively. He and Robert Allen give Ole Miss a nice presence at the four spot (and are really nifty at the top of that 1-3-1), and I am curious to see if Brakefield is capable of playing other positions effectively. Sort of along those lines, I am also curious to see if he ends up being consistent enough offensively for Ole Miss to do some point-forward stuff with him.
7. Jarkell Joiner scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting and was 2-4 from three-point range. He’s a guy Ole Miss needs to improve in beating people off the dribble and become a more well-rounded offensive player. His mid-range game is fun to watch but it would become even better if he is able to get to the rim more consistently.
8. Ruffin’s debut was a little rough but you could see the explosiveness he has that the team lacked last year. He had a couple of turnovers late but also appeared to jam his wrist and I imagine that played a part in it. I am curious to see what kind of scorer he becomes. He didn’t look timid at all on offense, and while the defense wasn’t great, he played with great effort. Those are two important boxes to check for true freshmen.
9. Ole Miss was 9-22 from three point range. The biggest offensive concern this team faces is a lack of perimeter shooting. After a slow start last night, the Rebels shot the basketball pretty well. It was by committee, for the most part, and I think that is exactly how it will have to be this year. I don’t think there is a guy on the roster that is going to shoot 40 percent from three and take a high volume of them on a nightly basis. I think Ole Miss needs to be incrementally better collectively. If the Rebels are better in that capacity, it will open up the floor a lot more on offense. If they aren’t, they could be a tough watch again this year.
I am looking forward to continuing to learn about this group over the next month. Ole Miss has Charleston Southern on Friday night before going to the Charleston Classic where it will face a Marquette team that should finish near the bottom of the Big East. The Golden Eagles are in a bit of a rebuild with new coach Shaka Smart. If Ole Miss wins, it will likely face West Virginia. That’ll be the team’s first real test.
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Get to know A&M
Back to football now. Ole Miss has a huge game this weekend. This is the dynamite analysis you subscribed for. The Aggies are coming off a dominant defensive performance at home against Auburn. They’re healthy on that side of the ball, running the football better on offense and quarterback Zach Calzada is playing better than he did a month ago. Let’s have a look at them.
some basic numbers
- The Aggies are second in the SEC in scoring defense and have allowed just 132 points this year. That’s second only to Georgia’s 59 (just absurd). The next closest to A&M are Auburn and Alabama at 178 and 179 apiece to give you an idea of how good this defense is. It might be the best defensive front Ole Miss faces all year.
- The offense runs for 192 yards per game, good for 6th in the SEC and the Aggies are running the football better than they have all year. They have rushed for at least 215 yards in each of the last three games. Isaiah Spiller is an NFL running back and the offensive line seems to be figuring it out.
- A&M Runs it well and stops the run. It allows 123 yards per game rushing. That’s a tough match up for Ole Miss who will need to be much better running the football than the Rebels have been the last two weeks.
About Zach Calzada
Calzada took over midway through the team’s second game at Colorado when starter Haynes King broke his ankle. These two battled for the starting job all summer and King eventually got the nod, likely in part due to his ability to run. Calzada has a huge arm but isn’t accurate. He was bad in relief against Colorado (though you could hardly fault him considering the circumstances) and wasn’t great in a loss to Arkansas — though I still cannot figure out why A&M didn’t run the ball more in that game.
He’s sort of figured it out since. He’s only thrown the ball 30 times in a game once since the loss to the Razorbacks. That came in 31 attempts against Alabama on a night in which he played the game of his life. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Calzada has thrown the ball less over the last month as the running game has improved. And guess what? It’s probably not a coincidence the offense and team are playing better football as a result. Ole Miss is going to have to find a way to put the game in Calzada’s hands by somewhat neutralizing this rushing attack. Texas A&M is going to run for a lot of yards against Ole Miss. This much is a given. But how do the Rebels fare in the red zone and can they get the Aggies behind the chains enough times to force Calzada to make difficult throws? That’ll be the most telling thing in this game.
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Some Ole Miss notes from media availability
There wasn’t a whole lot in this week’s media availability that stood out, but I did find a couple of notes interesting.
- Lane Kiffin mentioned in his Monday press conference that not having a healthy Matt Corral has affected the running game in addition to the offensive line being banged up.
“This not an excuse and we should’ve run the ball way better, but when the quarterback can’t move and we aren’t running him, that helps the defense a bit. He isn’t going to pull the ball and we aren’t using him.”
This is not some shocking revelation but it was interesting to hear Kiffin say it out loud.
- Chance Campbell’s brother was offered a preferred walk on spot earlier this week. Campbell, who has another year of eligibility left, was asked about it and basically said, “It will be cool to have two of us here.” Hmm.
- Sam Williams set the single season sack record on his son’s first birthday. Williams has been pretty outspoken about the how the birth of his son has changed his perspective on football and life. That is pretty cool.
On the horizon
- Preview with Weldon on the Friday podcast with LBs Gregs picks after that
- Friday newsletter with some final thoughts on this crucial match up.
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun by clicking the subscribe button below. It is free.