Three observations from Ole Miss basketball's 74-56 win over Elon
Ole Miss improved to 3-1 on the young 2021-22 season with a 74-56 win over Elon (2-3) in the second round of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic Friday night.
The tournament, held in at the College of Charleston (S.C.), runs Nov. 18-21.
What did we learn? Let’s take a look.
1. The Rebels responded after quick turnaround.
After suffering their first loss in a tight game against Marquette on Thursday, Kermit Davis’ squad had to shake it off and get ready for another game 24 hours later.
The Rebels responded with another quick start, jumping out to an 8-0 lead early over Elon in their 74-56 victory. Back-to-back games are not a routine thing during a season — Rebels will not have to experience it again until the SEC Tournament in March — but showed the ability to bounce back with zero rest.
“That was a heartbreaking loss. We knew how good Marquette was,” said Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis.
“I thought we had a lot of pop, a lot of juice (on Friday). Even (had) a game day practice today. Sometimes that’s hard to do, so I’ve got to give our guys a lot of credit.
Ole Miss gets a day off on Saturday. The Rebels will will play Boise State (2-2) on Sunday at Noon CT in the fifth-place game of the tournament.
2. Ole Miss showed the ability to win without inside presence.
Against Marquette, the Rebels were dominant underneath with Nysier Brooks having his best game of the young season.
Friday’s effort showed the defense has the ability to win games without the strong play inside, if the matchup works in their favor.
Against Elon, the inside game was not present but was also not needed with the play of perimeter defense by the Rebels. Elon, which is shooting 41.1 percent from three-point range on the season, was held to 17.6 percent (3-17) from beyond the arc on Friday.
“Jarkel was tremendous tonight, starting our defense,” Davis said. “Matt Murrell was outstanding tonight. Luis guarded at a high level.
“Just our perimeter defense tonight was really good. (McIntosh and Watson) are good offensive players that shoot for high percentage. We weren’t going to switch a bunch. Really pressured and just tried to run them off the line and I felt we did that for the most part.”
3. Rotating starting lineups could work for Rebels.
Another game and another night where the Rebel offense spread the wealth and had contributions from both the starters and the bench.
Murrell got the start at guard over Austin Crowley, something that Davis noted could be a regular thing for several players and positions throughout the season.
On Friday, it worked with Murrell scoring seven points, with five from the free throw line. If both Murrell and Crowley can get into an offensive groove for the rest of the season, and keep it no matter who is starting and who is coming off the bench, the Rebel offense could be very potent with Jarkel Joiner leading it.
“I thought Matt got us off to a great start,” Davis said. “A couple sets early where he made some great Euro throws. The first five minutes were efficient, offensively, and it wasn’t the best assist to turnover, 14 to 13, so it was positive. But, I thought we play-maked well.”
