Friday, December 6, 2013

Rebels Fall on Marshall's Off Night

Each of us experiences an off day every once in a while when nothing seems to go, or bounce, our way. It's life. It happens. And it's exactly what happened to Marshall Henderson last night as Ole Miss fell to Kansas State 61-58 for the Rebels' first loss of the young season. 

Ole Miss is 6-1. 

Nothing would fall for Henderson.

He didn't make his first 3-pointer until 5:37 remained in the game.

Henderson finished 4 of 18 from the field and 2 of 13 from behind the arc. Several times the ball would drop into the rim and spin out... He was off by millimeters, but that's all it took. One more made shot would've been a game changer in a close one, but it wasn't to be. Not last night.

Of course it wasn't just Henderson. The entire team had an off night. Easy lay ups were missed, and errant 3-pointers taken. It was sloppy. Kansas State's own abysmal shooting is what kept it so close.

Marshall should never quit shooting, so I'm certainly not going to fault him for trying or Kennedy for allowing him to try. We've all seen him make enough crazy 3's by now that there's really never a time that there's not a chance, but there are percentages to play and that's the only thing I didn't like about this game - the ending.

Down by two with the opportunity to take the last shot, Henderson was so well covered that he had to make a spinning 3-point attempt from a looong way behind the 3-point line. In that situation, with the fervor in which the referees were blowing whistles, the obvious play was to drive the lane and hope for the easy basket or a foul or both.

It's not anything head coach Andy Kennedy didn't already know. Henderson's far out 3-point attempt wasn't the play he wanted either, but...

"We made the read to get him the ball," Kennedy said. "I was hoping again, based on the rules, try to put some pressure on the rim and get a foul. He opted to take a hard shot and all night they weren't falling for him."

Nope, they weren't. But they will again. It just wasn't Henderson's or the Rebels' night. Fortunately, this is basketball and one loss does not a season kill. A win over No 13 Oregon on Sunday would do a lot of good for this team and nullify a bad night in Kansas.

Ole Miss hosts the Ducks Sunday at 4 p.m. (ESPNU).

Here's a game story.