{"id":23035,"date":"2015-03-08T03:21:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T08:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=23035"},"modified":"2015-07-23T17:18:32","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T22:18:32","slug":"on-senior-night-ole-miss-forward-m-j-rhett-scores-18-as-the-rebels-battle-the-vanderbilt-commodores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/on-senior-night-ole-miss-forward-m-j-rhett-scores-18-as-the-rebels-battle-the-vanderbilt-commodores\/","title":{"rendered":"On senior night, Ole Miss Forward M.J. Rhett scores 18 as the Rebels Battle the Vanderbilt Commodores"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entering the final game of the season, Ole Miss<\/strong> wanted to leave a shining light on their already great, but unexpected, tournament resume. Although the Rebels<\/strong> had lost two of their last three games, they hoped to end the season with a win against Vanderbilt<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ole<\/a>
Ole Miss Rebels Senior M.J. Rhett went eight of nine field goals against Vanderbilt, playing 28 minutes and scoring 18 points with 3 rebounds. Photograph by Newt Rayburn – \u00a9 March 7, 2015 The Local Voice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the Commodores <\/strong>had other ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming into the night on their own four game winning streak, Vanderbilt was shooting 49.4 percent from behind the arc in those games. <\/span><\/p>\n

Against the Rebels Saturday night, the Commodores went a stellar 13-23 from the three point line, and 30-55 from the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey put on a clinic,\u201d said Ole Miss Head Coach Andy Kennedy<\/strong>. \u201cThey\u2019re as good a shooting team as we have faced in maybe my nine years here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ole Miss was surely a lock in the NCAA Tournament<\/strong> going into this final game of the season, a place no one expected them to be at the beginning of the year, especially after losing their opener to Charleston Southern<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier in the day Saturday, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi<\/strong>, who correctly predicted 67 of the 68 teams in last year\u2019s NCAA tournament bracket, had Ole Miss listed as a ninth-seed team. Ole Miss was considered by many to be a shoe-in to the big dance, but after a tough loss to Vanderbilt, they are slowly inching closer to the drama-filled bubble.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve never been mentioned as a bubble team by one person, nor were we mentioned at the start of the season by one person as a NCAA Tournament team,\u201d said Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy rather emphatically. \u201cNot one. Not one in this room, not one in the nation, that the Ole Miss Rebels could be a NCAA tournament team. Not. One.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ole<\/a>
Ole Miss Rebels Men’s Basketball Seniors – Photograph by Newt Rayburn – \u00a9 March 7, 2015 The Local Voice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rebels had five senior players in their final game in Tad Smith Coliseum<\/strong> last night. Seniors Aaron Jones, M.J. Rhett, LaDarius \u201cSnoop\u201d White, Terence Smith<\/strong>, and Jarvis Summers<\/strong> all started the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Vanderbilt<\/a>
Vanderbilt Guard Riley LaChance was six of thirteen from field goal range, and five of nine from three point range. He finished the night with 19 points. Photograph by Newt Rayburn – \u00a9 March 7, 2015 The Local Voice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Summers registered 16 points and four assists on the night, while Rhett led the Rebels with 18 points and went an outstanding eight for nine from the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the flip side, Vanderbilt went off big time from the three point line, hitting 13 of their 23 shots beyond the arc. The Commodores were led by Riley LaChance<\/strong> who scored 19 points and went five for nine from three.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Vanderbilt hit a majority of the shots they tossed towards the rim, timing is what really hurt the Ole Miss. Whenever the Rebels gained any momentum against the Commodores, Vanderbilt would easily hit another three.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball is a game of rhythm,\u201d explained Coach Kennedy. \u201cYou have to disrupt theirs and establish yours. We did neither.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, this was a bad match up for Ole Miss. The Rebels have played a lot of zone defenses this year, and the way teams have beat Ole Miss, is by hitting jump shots and passing the ball. Vanderbilt did both extraordinarily well. The Commodores had 25 assists on 30 made shots. By the time the Rebels switched from a zone to a man-to-man defense, the damage had been done.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe<\/a>
\u201cWe let them do what they wanted to do offensively,\u201d said Forward M.J. Rhett. \u201cWe should be more in passing lanes and we should stop letting everyone just catch and pass.\u201d – Photograph by Newt Rayburn – \u00a9 March 7, 2015 The Local Voice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe let them do what they wanted to do offensively,\u201d said Forward M.J. Rhett. \u201cWe should be more in passing lanes and we should stop letting everyone just catch and pass.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ole Miss is thankful they will no longer have to play in the Tad Pad<\/strong> anymore this season. The Rebels are 9-7 on the season in the building and have only shot above 45 percent in the coliseum three times this season.\u00a0 On the season, Ole Miss is 20-11, with a majority of their losses at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven’t been very good in this building,\u201d said Coach Kennedy of Tad Smith Coliseum. \u201cWhat we shoot in this building in our losses is staggering.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe<\/a>
\u201cWe haven\u2019t been very good in this building,\u201d said Coach Kennedy of Tad Smith Coliseum. \u201cWhat we shoot in this building in our losses is staggering.\u201d – Photograph by Newt Rayburn – \u00a9 March 7, 2015 The Local Voice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ole Miss could have been a three-seed in the SEC tournament with a win, and would of received a second-round bye. But with the loss to Vanderbilt, the Rebels drop all the way to a six seed and will have to play an extra game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe finished third, but based on tiebreakers we\u2019ll be sixth,\u201d said Kennedy of the SEC Tournament seeding. \u201cUltimately, I\u2019m a big believer of you get what you deserve.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ole Miss will be back in action on Thursday<\/strong>, March 12, 2015<\/strong><\/span> in the SEC Tournament. The game will be on the SEC Network and start \u201caround\u201d 8:15 pm<\/span>. Start time is technically twenty five minutes after the 6:00 pm<\/span> game and it is not known for sure when that game will end.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rebels will face the winner of the South Carolina<\/strong> and Missouri<\/strong> game.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Entering the final game of the season, Ole Miss wanted to leave a shining light on their already<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":23052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,6],"tags":[4617,4614,4718,1928,4336,5077,5203,5143,5714,15,7067,700,5812,2892,4901,4615,5811,90],"class_list":["post-23035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-athletics","category-ole-miss","tag-aaron-jones","tag-andy-kennedy","tag-charleston-southern","tag-commodores","tag-jarvis-summers","tag-ladarius-snoop-white","tag-m-j-rhett","tag-missouri","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-newt-rayburn","tag-ole-miss","tag-rebels","tag-riley-lachance","tag-south-carolina","tag-tad-pad","tag-taylor-rayburn","tag-terence-smith","tag-vanderbilt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/14-IMG_9875.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}