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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
5-2
TCU
8-0
Rebels Drop Home Battle to Horned Frogs
12/4/2014 | Men's Basketball
OXFORD, Miss. - Junior guard Stefan Moody led Ole Miss with 12 points, as the Rebels fell to TCU 66-54 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Thursday.
TCU (8-0) held Ole Miss (5-2) to a season-low 29.8 percent from the field, including a 7:11 scoring drought in the second half, during which the Horned Frogs turned a five-point lead into a decisive 18-point lead.
"We didn't have any rhythm," head coach Andy Kennedy said. "We're searching for options offensively. Defensively, we were locked in early. It's hard to maintain a certain intensity on the defensive side when you're so inefficient offensively, and it just spreads throughout."
Moody was the lone Rebel in double figures, his team-leading fifth game in double figures this season, scoring seven of his 12 points in the second half. Sophomore forward Sebastian Saiz was second on the team with nine points, followed by senior guard Jarvis Summers with eight. Senior forward M.J. Rhett led the Rebels with seven rebounds.
In a back-and-forth first half that featured three ties and 10 lead changes, TCU took a 27-24 lead into the locker room. It was a defensive battle for much of the half, as the teams combined to go 16-of-53 from the field.
TCU did its damage from 3-point range, where they went 4-of-8, while Ole Miss remained close by going 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, despite going 7-of-28 from the field and 0-of-6 from 3-point range.
Ole Miss scored the first points of the second half, drawing to within one, before TCU answered with a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to seven. The Rebels battled back to within five, 42-37, with 13:06 left, before the Horned Frogs went on a 13-0 run and took their lead out to 55-37 with 5:55 left.
"It's a two or three-possession game, and then they get second, third and fourth-chance opportunities and they ended up getting separation," Kennedy said. "With our inability to score consistently, we were running uphill all night."
TCU led wire-to-wire in the second half, leading by as many as 19, behind 43.3 percent shooting and a 27-12 rebounding advantage in the half, including 11-3 on the offensive glass.
"I'm trying to play a bunch of guys a bunch of minutes because I'm just trying to find some consistency, somebody that wants to play and somebody wants to separate themselves and earn minutes," Kennedy said. "We're trying everything we can, especially on our frontline to get somebody to snatch a hard rebound that maybe would allow us get out in the open floor and try make a play and get a little momentum, and we just couldn't do that."
Ole Miss returns to action, traveling to Oregon on Sunday for their second true road game of the season. Tip-off between the Rebels and the Ducks is set for 3 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.
"It's a hard trip, across the country against a quality Pac-12 opponent," Kennedy said. "After we built some momentum, winning five in a row and playing well down in Florida, I'm not pushing the right buttons and I have to figure out a way to get this team to play the way I saw them play for two games against Creighton and Cincinnati."
