Three observations from Ole Miss basketball's 78-72 loss to Marquette
Ole Miss dropped to 2-1 on the young 2021-22 season, and squandered a golden quality-win opportunity, with a 78-72 loss to Marquette (3-0) in the opening round of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic Thursday 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. Production in the paint improving
The points in the paint battle was one handily by Ole Miss in its the loss, which might be a moral victory, but it’s also a sign of much-needed improvement.
Nysier Brooks led the way underneath the basket, leading the team in points with 13 and rebounds with 7. Thursday’s effort ties his season total in points, making it Brooks’ best game out of his first three with the Rebels.
Getting consistent outings from Brooks like the one Thursday would be huge for the Rebels moving forward.
Ole Miss hasn’t had a strong presence at center in quite some time. Brooks is, arguably, the best pure center since Reggie Buckner.
“I feel like once we made the presence of getting the ball to the rim early, it started to sink and collapse the defense and that was helping our shooters get more open shots,” Brooks said. “I feel like in the second half we went to just try to get the open shot or just take a shot instead of trying to massage the defense inside first then kick out for open threes.”
As a team, Ole Miss won the points in the battle by outscoring Marquette 38-16 under the basket.
2. So much for charity.
For Ole Miss to win the close games against quality opponents, like the opportunity they had against Marquette, they are going to have to take the free points when they are given to them.
The Rebels were abysmal at the free-throw line on Thursday, shooting 40 percent (6-15) on the night. That’s just over half of their season percentage at the charity stripe (68.8 percent), which is also not a great number to start the season.
In fairness, the Rebels only had one trip to the line in the first half and made both shots.
The struggles occurred in the second half with a 30.8 percent effort (4-13).
“We’ve got to get to the line more,” said Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis. “They made their free throws and we didn’t. We shot the ball well in preseason from the free throw line. We shot it well in the scrimmage and the exhibition and (the first two) games.
“Tonight it bit us.”
In comparison, in a game where the margin of victory was six points, Marquette, which was fresh off an upset of No. 10 Illinois, shot 89 percent (17-19) from the stripe, hitting 12 in the second half.
3. Jaemyn Brakefield needs to find consistency
Through three games, Brakefield looks like a player who is trying to find his rhythm in Davis’ system.
However, it’s fairly obvious he’s struggling to catch on to the pace and style.
The sophomore transfer is shooting 52 percent (13-25) through his first three games as a Rebel and had his best game of the three on Thursday, scoring 11 points along with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
Ole Miss will play the loser of West Virginia-Elon Friday around 8 p.m. CT.
