1. NASHVILLE — It’s cute and fashionable to pin Ole Miss’ basketball success so far this season on defense.
After all, that’s Kermit Davis’ reputation, and he’s earned it.
His teams play tenacious defense. They’re relentless. Davis’ 1-3-1 zone, and sometimes his 2-3 zone, give offenses fits, create havoc and turnovers and change games.
It’s all true.
However, Ole Miss’ win at Vanderbilt Saturday night, despite the efforts of some to paint that narrative, was a result of something entirely different.
Ole Miss’ defense in Nashville was fine. Vanderbilt shot 40 percent from the floor, 30 percent from the 3-point line and 58.6 percent from the free throw line. The Commodores committed just 10 turnovers, two fewer than Ole Miss.
Ole Miss won the game on offense. Specifically, it won the game on offense in the second half. Ole Miss was 15-for-26 from the floor and 14-for-15 from the free throw line in the final 20 minutes of the Rebels’ 81-71 win at Memorial Gym.
That’s why they won. That shooting, especially from the Rebels’ talented backcourt, is why they’re 11-2 heading into Wednesday’s 6 p.m. game against Auburn in Oxford.
One day, probably in the next couple of years, Davis’ Ole Miss team will carry his defensive DNA. No one will look forward to facing the Rebels, for they’ll likely be full of long, active, smart defenders. For now, Ole Miss isn’t there yet, so the Rebels are having to win on offense.
Down 53-47 Saturday night with 14:23 left, Ole Miss got back in the game on the offensive end. KJ Buffen rebounded a missed 3-pointer from Bruce Stevens and turned in into an and-one to cut Vanderbilt’s lead to three points. After a missed 3-pointer by Matt Ryan, Breein Tyree drove to the lane and pulled Ole Miss to within 53-52.
Simisola Shittu’s layup extended Vanderbilt’s lead, but 31 seconds later, Ole Miss used Tyree as a decoy to create a dunk for Stevens. Vanderbilt pushed its lead to three points with 10:12 left, but a drive by Tyree cut that advantage back to just one 16 seconds later.
It stayed that way for the next 1:20 until Terence Davis’ jumper with 8:36 remaining gave Ole Miss the lead and momentum it would never relinquish.
Afterwards, Kermit Davis talked about that stretch, noting that the Rebels were on the ropes when they were down six. The Rebels just made shots, he said, and that gave them time to figure out the right defense and then take advantage of Terence Davis’ torrid finish.
Yes, Ole Miss’ defense stymied Vanderbilt late, but it wouldn’t have mattered had the Rebels’ offense not carried the freight during the game’s turning point.
2. Tyree was just fantastic on Saturday night. The junior guard was 11-for-16 from the floor, 3-for-5 from the 3-point line and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, scoring 31 points in 36 minutes. He added three assists and a steal and committed just two turnovers. In short, Tyree was excellent.
“He was a talented guard when Andy (Kennedy) coached him,” Davis said. “He’s a real talent. He’s a compact guard. I think he’s as talented as any guard in our league. I’ve said that for a while now. He’s got to guard better but he’s so athletic at the rim. He’s got one of the best mid-range games in college basketball. When he jumps up, he jumps. He’s got the old-school mid-range jump shot, so he can score at all three levels. He’s powerful. He’s a good player.”
That mid-range jumper, Tyree said, is “definitely something I came to campus with.”
However, Tyree had praise for “the shots Kermit gets me in the game. They’re open shots and I’m not knocking them down right now, so it’ll good.”
3. Tyree and Davis stole the headlines Saturday, and deservedly so, but I thought two of the biggest shots of the game came from guys who had nice games under the radar.
Vanderbilt had cut Ole Miss’ lead to 72-67 on a free throw by Shittu with 2:46 left. The Rebels’ next two possessions came up empty. So did Vanderbilt’s. Then the Rebels ran offense, and the ball got to Blake Hinson at the elbow. He found Dominik Olejniczak near the bucket, and his dunk with 1:24 gave the Rebels breathing room.
Shuler, meanwhile, had a critical layup with 4:01 left and then knocked down four key free throws in the final minute to wrap up the win.
“That was really, really big,” Tyree said. “I know TD would say the same thing, but (Shuler and Olejniczak) get buckets on us in practice every day. To (the media), they might be role players but to us, they’re stars. The ball was in Devontae’s hands and he made a great play. The ball was in Dom’s hands, and he made a great play. We have trust in all our teammates.”
4. Terence Davis played just 21 minutes on Saturday after picking up two quick fouls in both halves. He finished with 11 key points and five rebounds and played a huge role in the Rebels’ win. However, it was his mindset when he returned to the game with more than eight minutes left that might be the biggest sign of his maturing as a player.
“I just wanted to impact the game on the defensive end,” Davis said. “The reason I was getting in foul trouble is I wasn’t getting in my stance and things like that. I just wanted to do the small things and affect the game.”
5. Not that there was any doubt after the first 12 games of their careers, but Ole Miss’ talented freshman duo, Hinson and Buffen, didn’t blink at all in their first SEC road games.
Hinson scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds in 28 minutes. Buffen came off the bench to score five points and grab seven rebounds in 20 minutes. Buffen had four turnovers but he added two assists, two blocked shots and a steal. Hinson had an assist and a steal as well. Another newcomer, junior college transfer, Zach Naylor, didn’t score in eight minutes, but he had two assists and a blocked shot.
Bottom line: Ole Miss needs all three (and Luis Rodriguez, who didn’t play Saturday) to maximize this season. Hinson and Buffen look like future stars, but their roles on this team are absolutely critical. That was obvious Saturday, and both players answered the bell.
6. Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew got a look at Ole Miss late last season, long after the Rebels had basically mailed it in on a disastrous, lost season. The Commodores won easily that afternoon as Ole Miss limped to the finish line.
Ten months later, he saw a different Ole Miss team, though he seemed hesitant to distribute much credit following Saturday’s loss.
“Obviously, winning breeds more confidence,” Drew said. “I think as you look at their roster there are a lot of familiar faces and a lot of guys who have started two or three years in the SEC. That makes a big difference. Their bodies look different. Their maturity is different. They’re shooting the ball at a high, high level and some of that goes along with maturity as you grow older in the league.”
7. Here’s my weekly ranking of the SEC:
1. Tennessee — The Vols look like a team capable of winning the entire thing.
2. Auburn — The Tigers are loaded. Ole Miss gets a shot at them Wednesday night.
3. Mississippi State — The Bulldogs have lost just once and are an experienced, dangerous team. The Rebels get a look at them Saturday in Starkville.
4. Kentucky — This is kind of benefit of the doubt, but the Wildcats are immensely talented.
5. Alabama — The Tide held on for a huge win over Kentucky Saturday.
6. LSU — The Tigers get Alabama at home early this week in what should be a fascinating game.
7. Ole Miss — I might have the Rebels a bit too low here. Who would’ve thought we’d be saying that?
8. Florida — The loss like the one the Gators experienced Saturday in Gainesville is the type of defeat that is going to make Mike White go grey.
9. Arkansas — Like Ole Miss, the Hogs have surprised so far.
10. Vanderbilt — The Commodores are going to win games. I love Shittu’s potential.
11. Missouri — I might have the Tigers a little low here. They get Tennessee Tuesday night. Have fun with that.
12. Texas A&M — The Aggies’ losing to Arkansas at home was sub-optimal for their chances of salvaging something this season.
13. South Carolina — The Gamecocks are 6-7, but that win over Florida will give them a shot in the arm.
14. Georgia — The Bulldogs drew Tennessee to open league play, but a 46-point loss should be a bit of a cold dose of reality for Tom Crean and Co.
8. I anticipate we will hear from Ole Miss’ new coordinators, Rich Rodriguez and Mike MacIntyre, this week. We will probably also get some closure on Jon Sumrall’s future. He interviewed for the Troy job today, and it’s likely he’ll remain at Ole Miss unless he lands that gig.
I first heard of Troy’s interest in possibly hiring Sumrall to replace Neal Brown back in November when Brown’s name surfaced for other head coaching jobs. Now that Brown is at West Virginia, the Troy gig is open, and frankly, Sumrall makes a ton of sense.
Ole Miss also has a tight ends coach position to fill, though there’s a lot of buzz surrounding long-time Rodriguez aid/New Mexico offensive coordinator Calvin Magee.
This week is the coaches’ convention. Matt Luke is going Tuesday and coming back Wednesday, so the odds of a lot of transactions occurring there are low.
9. The holidays are over, but there’s no dry January at 10 Weekend Thoughts. So, here’s Nashville’s own, Jonathan Howard:
I was there last night to watch the Rebs stay the course and pull out a well-fought victory. I remember saying to my colleague that went with me that we seemed like Novocain — numbing, steady, and effective. We needed some medicine and we got it in the form of one Coach Kermit Davis. So, a little more medicine for you — The Penicillin cocktail is your drink of the week.
No new drink of the 21st century has gone further in terms of fame than this complex, spicy, smoky turn on a Whiskey Sour. Australian Bartender Sam Ross created it while at Milk & Honey NYC, just a year after he emigrated to the United States from Melbourne.
Being that Milk & Honey was the bar that reinvigorated the modern cocktail movement, they always got new and exciting products before the rest of the country. When the Compass Box line of scotches made their way to New York and into the hands of Mr. Ross, he began playing around. He did a riff on the Gold Rush (bourbon, honey, lemon) which was one of the bar’s big sellers using Compass Box Asyla, which is a soft and complex blended whisky. He then used the bar’s sweetened ginger juice and honey to balance out the lemon. He then grabbed Compass Box Peat Monster, which is a whisky with a really heavy amount of smoke, and poured a float on top. The smoke stayed on the top of the drink which is why it is recommended to never serve it with a straw. What that gives you is a smoke on the nose and a spicy sweet cocktail underneath.
The best part of Sam Ross is that he will tell you that he went to bed that night not thinking much of it, and not knowing he created the seminal modern cocktail. I happen to know Sammy, so I called and got his thoughts. Plus, I was also very curious. He said, “That was a good drink. It wasn’t until nine months later, at Little Branch, one of our waitresses, Lucinda Sterling, she came back from a table, and they all wanted Bartender’s Choices. She said I should put a penicillin out because every table needs to experience one of them. It wasn’t until she said that, that I was like, ‘Oh, maybe there’s something there.’”
There was something there. In 2007, Sam Ross did some extensive consultancy work in Los Angeles, planting the seed of the drink in bars there. In the years since, the Penicillin has become as close to a household word as any cocktail since the Cosmopolitan. Another measure of the bartending community’s familiarity with the potion: You can often get one at cocktail bars that don’t even have it on the menu. By 2014, the Penicillin was so well known that some young bartenders assumed it was an old classic from way back.
Cheers!
Penicillin
2 ounces Compax Box Asayla or Famous Grouse
¾ ounce lemon
¾ ounce honey ginger syrup
¼ ounce Compax Box Peatmoster or Laphriog
Directions: In a mixing tin, add all ingredients. Shake fervently and fine-strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube. Then float the smoky whisky on top. Garnish with a piece of candied ginger.
Honey-Ginger Syrup: Combine one cup of honey with one six-inch peeled and sliced piece of ginger root with one cup of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes. Refrigerate overnight, then strain, discarding the solids.
10. We'll have basketball, football, recruiting and whatever else pops up this week on RebelGrove.com. Until then, here are some links of interest to me _ and hopefully, to you _ for your reading pleasure:
Hunter Renfrow is a timeless legend at Clemson
Why Nick Saban doesn't text, yet still connects with recruits
Despite sour ending, Drew Lock’s return to Mizzou was win-win | The Kansas City Star
The most important NBA job you’ve never heard of – The Athletic
Russell Westbrook's roller-coaster offense isn't slowing down the Thunder
