Ole Miss Dances Into Jacksonville, Faces Xavier

March 18, 2015

Ole Miss Game Notes - Xavier | Tournament Central

BLOG: Whirlwind Week Continues for the Rebels

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Date: Thursday, March 19, 2015

Time: 3:10 p.m.

Location: Jacksonville, Fla.

Arena: Veterans Memorial Arena (15,000)

Television: TBS

Andrew Catalon, play-by-play

Steve Lappas, analyst

Jamie Erdahl, sideline

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network

David Kellum, play-by-play

Keith Carter, analyst

Satellite Radio: Sirius 93, XM 203

Live Video: NCAA.com

Live Audio: OleMissSports.com

Series: First meeting

NCAA Tournament: 8th Appearance

Record: 5-7

Streak: W1

TIP OFF

Â• Ole Miss returns to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in school history and has an all-time record of 5-7 in the Big Dance.

Â• The Rebels are making their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons under head coach Andy Kennedy, who is making is his ninth trip as a player and coach

Â• Ole Miss has posted 20 wins for the seventh time in nine seasons under head coach Andy Kennedy. The Rebels recorded just seven 20-win campaigns in the 96 seasons before Kennedy's arrival.

Â• Ole Miss ranks third in the nation in free throw percentage, hitting 77.4 percent of its attempts. The Rebels have hit 402 of their last 515 (.781) attempts from the line. Junior G Stefan Moody leads the SEC and ranks eighth in the nation shooting 90.7 percent from the free throw line.

Â• Head coach Andy Kennedy recently passed Alabama's Wimp Sanderson for the third-most wins in SEC history with by a coach in his first nine years in the league at one school with 192.. He trails only Kentucky's Joe B. Hall (205) and Florida's Billy Donovan (193).

Â• Junior G Stefan Moody earned All-SEC first team honors from the league coaches after leading the SEC in scoring at conference games at 18.6 ppg. Moody also lead the league in steals averaging 2.0/game.

Â• Senior G Jarvis Summers led the league in assists in SEC play at 5.3/game and has posted 98 assists in his last 17 games. Summers is the SEC active career leader in points (1,629), assists (523), minutes (3,857) and wins (84), and is just the fourth player in SEC history with 1,600 career points and 500 career assists.

COMEBACK FOR THE AGES

The Rebels erased a 17-point halftime deficit to knock off the BYU in the First Four game in Dayton Tuesday to advance to the second round in Jacksonville. Ole Miss scored 62 points in the second half, which was the most points scored in the second half of a NCAA game since 2007. The Rebels shot 30 percent in the first half and 60 in the second to finish the game at 45 percent. It was the first 17-plus point deficit over come in the tournament since Ohio State rallied from 17 down to knock off Tennessee in 2007. Ole Miss scored 50 points in the last 14:07 of its win vs. BYU for a rate of 141.7 points per 40 minutes. The Rebels scored 25 points off turnovers against none for the Cougars. Senior F M.J. Rhett scored a career-high 20 points, including 14 in the second half, while senior G Stefan Moody added an Ole Miss NCAA record 26 points, including 15 after halftime. Senior G Jarvis Summer posted his second career double-double with 11 points and a season-high 10 assists. Junior G Martavious Newby and sophomore F Sebastian Saiz each added 10 points and a team-best 9 boards.

OLE MISS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

The Rebels are making their eighth appearance in the Big Dance and sport a 5-7 mark in the NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss' last appearance came in 2013 in the West Region in Kansas City, where the No. 12-seeded Rebels knocked off No. 5 Wisconsin before falling to No. 13 LaSalle in the third round.. The six other appearances came in 1981, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. Head coach Andy Kennedy is 2-1 all-time in the Big Dance and has 40 percent of Ole Miss' all-time NCAA Tournament wins. One more win and he will tie the school record for tourney wins by a head coach.

REBELS HEAD TO JACKSONVILLE

The Rebels travel to Jacksonville to face Xavier in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss is 3-0 in the Sunshine State this season with a pair of wins of Creighton and Cincinnati at the Emerald Coast Classic in November and a victory over Florida in February. Ole Miss boasts a pair of Floridians in Roderick Lawrence (Orlando) and junior G Stefan Moody (Kissimmee).

OLE MISS WINS 20 ... AGAIN

Ole Miss has 20 wins for the seventh time in nine seasons under Andy Kennedy. Ole Miss had seven 20-win campaigns in the 96 seasons prior to Kennedy's arrival in Oxford. Kennedy is just the fifth coach in SEC history to guide his teams to 20+ wins in at least seven of his first nine seasons in the league. The others: Billy Donovan (Florida), Joe. B. Hall (Kentucky), Rick Pitino (Kentucky), Tubby Smith (Georgia/Kentucky). Kennedy is also the first coach in Ole Miss history to win 20 games in four-straight season. Only Florida (8) and Kentucky (8) have more 20-win seasons over the last nine years in the SEC than the Rebels.

OLE MISS VERSUS THE FIELD

Ole Miss posted a 5-7 mark against the NCAA Tournament field this year, including wins over No. 5-seeded Arkansas, No. 8-seeded Cincinnati and Oregon, No. 11 BYU and No.16-seeded Coastal Carolina. Xavier posted an 8-7 mark against the tournament field.

OLE MISS THIRD IN SEC STANDINGS

Ole Miss finished tied for third in the league standings after being projected sixth in the preseason media poll. It is the second top-three SEC finish for the Rebels in the last three years.

MOODY WINS HOWELL TROPHY

Junior G Stefan Moody was recently named the 2015 C Spire Howell Trophy winner, presented by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. The Howell Trophy, named for Bailey Howell, goes to the most outstanding men's collegiate basketball player in Mississippi. Ole Miss has won the award each of the last three years as Jarvis Summers took home the award last year and Marshall Henderson won the honor in 2013.

MOODY NAMED ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM

Junior G Stefan Moody was selected All-SEC first team by the Associated Press and the league's coaches. Moody marks the first first-team selection for the Rebels since Chris Warren in 2011 and the 15th All-SEC selection under head coach Andy Kennedy, which is the third-most in the league over that time behind Florida and Kentucky.

REBELS HITTING FREEBIES

Ole Miss ranks third in the nation hitting 77.4 percent of its free throw attempts. The Rebels hit 26-of-30 attempts (.867) against Arkansas and have hit 402 of their last 415 from the line (.781). Seven Ole Miss players are shooting at least 75.0 percent from the line, including junior G Stefan Moody, who leads the SEC and ranks eighth in the nation shooting 90.7 percent (147-of-163). Moody snapped his streak of 32-straight FTs made in the Texas A&M game, which ended just five shy of the SEC record in conference games held by former Rebel David Rhodes.

FIRST FOUR SUCCESS

Since the NCAA expanded to 68 teams in 2011, with the addition of four First Four games, at least one First Four team won multiple games each year:

- 2011: No. 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth reached the Final 4

- 2012: No. 12 seed South Florida reached the Round of 32

- 2013: No. 13 seed La Salle reached the Sweet 16

- 2014: No. 11 seed Tennessee reached the Sweet 16

Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, 17 teams selected as No. 11 seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16, the last being Tennessee and Dayton last year, 6 have advanced to the Elite 8, the last being Dayton last year, and three have advanced to the Final 4, the last being Virginia Commonwealth in 2011.

ROAD WARRIORS

Ole Miss is 12-5 away from Tad Smith Coliseum this season, with wins over No. 19 Arkansas, No. 23 Creighton, BYU, Cincinnati, Florida and Oregon. Ole Miss' eight true road win are the most for the Rebels since 1937-38, when UM played 21 road games. The 12 wins away from Tad Smith are the most since 2012-13, when Ole Miss picked up 12 win away from the Tad Pad en route to the SEC Championship and the NCAA Tournament Third Round. The Rebels shoot better away from Tad Smith hitting 45.5 percent from the floor in road and neutral site games, compared to 39.8 percent at home. From behind the arc, Ole Miss is hitting 30.3 percent at home and 37.6 percent on the road. Ole Miss is averaging 75.2 ppg away from home and 71.2 ppg at Tad Smith Coliseum.

REBELS LIMITING TURNOVERS

Ole Miss has only turned the ball over only 144 times over its last 15 games for an average of just 9.6/game. The Rebels rank second in the league averaging just 10.1 turnovers a game in conference play and are third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.3.

OVER 40 PERCENT EQUALS W

Ole Miss is 18-3 this season with shooting better than 40.0 percent from the field. The Rebels' only three losses were at Dayton, at No. 1 Kentucky and versus Vanderbilt.

KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION IN NINTH YEAR

In nine seasons under Mississippi native Andy Kennedy, Ole Miss has a 192-113 record, one SEC Tournament championship, two SEC West championships, six 20-win campaigns and six postseason berths, which includes an NCAA Third Round appearance and pair of trips to the NIT Final Four. The all-time winningest coach in school history, Kennedy has averaged more than 21 wins per season in his eight full years in Oxford.

KENNEDY'S FIRST EIGHT YEARS RANK AMONG ALL-TIME SEC GREATS ...

Last season, head coach Andy Kennedy moved past Florida's Billy Donovan and Alabama's Wimp

Sanderson for the third-most wins by a head coach in their first eight years in the league at one school.

See the list below:

1. Rick Pitino (Kentucky) - 219

2. Joe B. Hall (Kentucky) - 183

3. Andy Kennedy (Ole Miss) - 171

4. Bill Donovan (Florida) - 169

Wimp Sanderson (Alabama) - 169
... AND SO DO HIS FIRST NINE YEARS

Kennedy is also third on the list for most win by a coach in their first nine years in the league at one school. See the list below:

1. Joe B. Hall (Kentucky) - 205

2. Bill Donovan (Florida) - 193

3. Andy Kennedy (Ole Miss) - 192

4. Wimp Sanderson (Alabama) - 190

5. Rick Stansbury (MSU) - 185

6. Mark Gottfried (Alabama) - 181

7. Cliff Ellis (Auburn) - 172

8. Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt) - 170

9. Don Devoe (Tennessee) - 169

10. John Brady (LSU) - 167

11. Hugh Durham (Georgia) - 164

12. Dale Brown (LSU) - 161

Roy Skinner (Vanderbilt) - 161

14. Babe McCarthy (MSU) - 159

NO STRANGER TO THE BIGDANCE

Head coach Andy Kennedy is making his second appearance in the NCAA Tournament as the Rebels' head man, but it is his ninth trip overall as a player and a coach. Kennedy made five trips to the Big Dance as an assistant coach and two trip as a player.

RETURN TRIP

Seniors Aaron Jones, Jarvis Summers and LaDarius White will be making their second trip to the NCAA Tournament after reaching the tournament in 2013. They are just the seventh senior class with at least two trips to the Big Dance.

OLE MISS IN THE RPI

Ole Miss ranks No. 55 in the latest Ratings Percentage Index rankings released by the NCAA. The Rebels are 4-5 against the RPI top 50 and 9-9 against the RPI top 100, including wins over No. 20 Arkansas, No. 27 Oregon, No. 36 BYU and No. 37 Cincinnati.

TOUGH ROAD

Ole Miss' strength of schedule ranks 21st in the nation according to ESPN.com. The Rebels have played 15 games against teams in ESPN.com's top 50 basketball power index, posting a 7-8 mark.

SUMMERS CLIMBS THE CAREER CHARTS

Senior G Jarvis Summers recently passed Rod Barnes for second in Ole Miss history with 523 career assists. Summers also ranks 2nd all time in free throws (463) and 8th all time in scoring (1,629). See page 7 for updated career records.

SUMMERS JOINS ELITE GROUP

Senior G Jarvis Summers is just the fourth player in SEC history to post 1,600 career points and 500 career assists. He joins a group that includes Florida's Erving Walker, LSU's Kenny Higgins and Mississippi State's Dee Bost.

SUMMERS JOINS WIN CLUB

Senior G Jarvis Summers became only the ninth player in Ole Miss history to reach 80 wins in his career with 84. Summers trails only Reginald Buckner and Jason Flanigan (87), Jason Harrison (86) and Murphy Holloway (85) on the all-time Rebel list. Head coach Andy Kennedy has coached four of the nine members of the 80-win club.

REBELS VERSUS MUSKETEERS

Ole Miss and Xavier have never met on the hardwood. The Rebels are 5-3 all time versus current Big East Conference teams, including a win over Creighton earlier this year. Head coach Andy Kennedy is 0-1 in his career against Xavier, dropping an overtime battle against the crosstown foe in his only season as Cincinnati head man.

SCOUTING THE MUSKETEERS

Xavier finished the regular season with a 21-13 record and a 9-9 mark in Big East. The Rebels and the Musketeers faced six common opponents this season in Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, Creighton, Missouri, and Northern Arizona. Ole Miss posted a perfect 6-0 against these foes, while Xavier was 5-2 with losses to Auburn and Creighton. Matt Stainbrook leads the team in scoring at 12.0 and rebounding at 6.8 boards a game. Three Musketeers including Stainbrook, Trevon Bluiett (11.7 ppg) and Myles Davis (10.7 ppg). Xavier is shooting 47 percent from the field this year, but allowing opponents to shoot 44 percent.

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Aaron Jones

Roderick Lawrence

Stefan Moody

Martavious Newby

M.J. Rhett

Sebastian Saiz

Jarvis Summers

LaDarius White

The University of Mississippi Athletics