Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Rebels Use Overtime Surge to Bury LSU



Marshall Henderson scored 25 and Jarvis Summers recorded his customary 20, but the story of the game in Ole Miss' 88-74 overtime romp over LSU was the phenomenal play of Sebastian Saiz. The true freshman from Spain scored 20 points, out-played, out-hustled and out-rebounded LSU's star forward Johnny O'Bryant, and just may have announced to his head coach that he is ready to step up and be the inside force that has been so obviously missing from the Ole Miss basketball team so far this season.

"Saiz was the key," Kennedy told reporters after the game. "Marshall (Henderson) was back and had 25 points, but the difference in the game was we finally had a post guy finish some at the basket. We won a battle of the glass against a team that was tops in the league in rebounding margin. It was a pretty solid performance out of our guys. It sets a new standard of what we are capable of if we take the right approach.”

Henderson and Summers are going to be dependable scorers on most nights. What Ole Miss has lacked is production on the inside. If Saiz can continue to have performances like he had against LSU (20 points, 9 rebounds) the Rebels have a shot to win a bunch of SEC games.

Ole Miss improved to 11-5 (2-1 SEC). It was a game the Rebels needed desperately. Falling to 1-2 in the conference and losing on their home floor would have been very, very damaging, and it almost happened. But Jarvis Summers hit Aaron Jones on a key assist and then sunk a short jumper to tie the game. LSU rimmed out the last shot in regulation.

In overtime the Tigers never had a chance. The Rebels seized their 2nd chance with vigor, and went on a 15-0 run. It was over after that. In that 5-minute period everything went right for the Ole Miss. Everything. And it was beautiful to watch. Marshall Henderson is back with his confidence and emotion that fuels not only him, but the whole team. The Rebels regained their footing, and have new hope thanks to Saiz. Hopefully this was the game he needed. The confidence has to be way up after this impressive performance. No more bad memories about forgetting to wear his jersey out of the locker room like he did against Auburn. Saiz grew up. He became an SEC forward. In fact, he dominated a really good SEC forward. Saiz proved to himself and everyone else he is up to the task. Now he's got 15 more conference games to continue to get better.

This bodes well for the Rebels.