Ole Miss' Kennedy earns 200th win Tuesday
OXFORD - Ole Miss spent week after week excelling in a competition in practice called the swing drill where the Rebels pass the ball around before shooting it.
Coach Andy Kennedy has raved how his players were regularly exceeding the shooting percentages he established as goals but wondered why that success didn’t appear in games.
The Rebels finally carried that success over to Tuesday night when they beat Louisiana Tech 99-80 at the Tad Smith Coliseum in front of 5,606 fans. It was their fifth consecutive win in the series against the Bulldogs — the first since 1997 — and their fifth in a row this season.
Tuesday’s victory was also the 200th of Kennedy’s career with the Rebels.
“The most gratifying moment of being here was going from worst to first in the first season and winning the division,” Kennedy said. “That created momentum for everything we have now.”
The Rebels (8-2) shot 56.9 percent for the game, setting season highs in points scored in the first half (52) and in a game.
The key, guard Rasheed Brooks believes, came in shootaround Tuesday morning.
“AK just told us, ‘Come out here and play freely. Don’t think about everything that we talk about, everything I’m telling you every day. Just come out here and play freely, play basketball, do what you’ve been doing and trust the work,’” Brooks said.
Guard Stefan Moody scored a game-high 29 points, one shy of his career high, on 10-of-22 shooting, while Brooks added a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
Brooks hadn’t scored more than nine points in his previous six games, which included a 1-of-8 performance with two points against Southeast Missouri last Saturday.
“I had a little slump over there at SEMO,” Brooks said. “I was kind of doubting myself, but I just went back to the gym and put up a lot more shots and just played with confidence.”
Added Kennedy: “He’s put in the work. He’s a good shooter. He was really in his feelings the last couple of days. Basketball is a funny game. You make two in a row, three in a row, you forget everything else. That’s what you want.”
He borrowed some confidence from Moody, who opened the game by making a 3-point shot.
The two have a game they play in which they imitate Golden State Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Moody plays Curry, Brooks as Thompson. All four players are guards.
“Me and him got a saying,” Brooks said. “‘If Curry hits one, maybe that’ll make Klay loosen up.’ I saw Curry hit one and Klay loosened up.”
Forwards Marcanvis Hymon and Tomasz Gielo added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Rebels. Forward Sebastian Saiz also had six points and 15 rebounds.
The Rebels took control of the game with 8:25 remaining in the first half.
They led 28-27 at that point but went on a 12-2 run over the next 4:26. Hymon scored the first four of those points, followed by 3-pointers from Gielo and forward Anthony Perez.
The Rebels closed the first half making six of their final seven shots, taking a 52-40 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs (8-2) couldn’t trim their deficit to single digits during the second half.
“We finally shot it like we shot behind closed doors,” Kennedy said. “You guys were starting to question my credibility. We made shots, and it became contagious.”
Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.