TJ’s Takeaways: What We Learned from Ole Miss’ 77-76 Road Win over Temple

PHILADELPHIA — Last night, Ole Miss defeated Temple in the Rebels’ first road game of the year. In a thriller that went down to the final possession, Ole Miss emerged victorious in the 77-76 win backed by a couple of Allen Flanigan free throws in the final few seconds.

Ole Miss remains undefeated and improves to 5-0 on the season. It was the best offensive performance of the year for Ole Miss that saw the Rebels make double-digit threes for the first time this season.

Ole Miss was able to get ahead thanks to another big performance from Flanigan. The senior transfer from Auburn added 26 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Three other Rebels added double-digit performances: both starters in Jaylen Murray (11 PTS) and Matthew Murrell (12 PTS).

Murrell added some perimeter shooting and Murray knocked down a clutch three down the stretch. Coming off the bench was another impressive outing for TJ Caldwell. The sophomore added 14 points on 6-12 shooting while making both of his three point attempts.

This series, TJ’s Takeaways, is here to help identify things that really stand out from the games, things you may not be able to find from a box score. If you’re looking for a recap of the game, don’t worry we’ve got you covered. Check it out HERE.

Allen Flanigan is the star Ole Miss basketball needed and Chris Beard has unlocked him 

Last night, Flanigan put together his best outing in an Ole Miss uniform. His 26-point performance is second to his 29-point outing against Eastern Washington. However, Flanigan did it yesterday in a far more efficient manor as the wing went 9-for-13 from the floor while also adding 8 rebounds and 7 assists. His heroics won Ole Miss the game as he made two free throws at the tail end of the game.

After last night, Flanigan now sits atop the SEC with 20.2 points per game. While the statistics make the title statement more obvious, the gameplay paints a different picture. This season, Flanigan’s usage percentage has skyrocketed to a 32.6%. That’s the highest of his entire career and over 10% higher than the past two years. While Flanigan only has 11 assists to 8 turnovers on the year so far, his 7.9 turnover percentage is the lowest of his career.

What caused this breakout to happen? It starts with the differences in how Flanigan is used at Ole Miss under head coach Chris Beard. This year, we have seen Flanigan used more as a post threat. His 16 possessions in the post are already greater than the total from his past two seasons. Adding that inside element has provided an opportunity for Flanigan to thrive where he’s converted those opportunities at a 45% clip. Through this, Flanigan has backed down smaller opponents, hit turnaround jumpers on the baseline, and found different angles to attack. Flanigan’s 3PA rate has dropped nearly 30%, and he has found new ways to open with a more inside-out approach. Through this, he has found success with his quick first step and he catches teams off guard with his upbeat pace in transition.

Ole Miss will have to continue to play slow

Through five games of the season, we can begin to see trends associated with this Ole Miss team. There is still plenty of room and time for growth. However, as it stands now, Ole Miss plays the game at a very slow pace and it has to. Chris Beard’s group is currently in the bottom 30 of the NCAA according to the KenPom rankings for adjusted tempo.

This team has the personnel to play fast but with concerns over depth, it will have to continue to play slowly. Ole Miss played four guys over 30+ minutes against Temple. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Plenty of teams play players at a high-level amount of minutes early in the season. For Ole Miss, with players such as Jaylen Murray, Matthew Murrell, Jamarion Sharp, Allen Flanigan, and Jaemyn Brakefield, they could enjoy the opportunity to go more. So instead of being a team that would play faster routinely, they sit more in that Virginia national title team spot where they take it when it’s there but otherwise may have to slow down. Ole Miss is actually a really good transition team, ranking in the 85th percentile.

Part of this can be affected by Ole Miss still having to wait on an NCAA eligibility waiver decision for both Moussa Cisse and Brandon Murray. It leaves the Rebels rather thin, especially in the frontcourt, and through this they will need to take it slow to keep the defense sharp. In this past game, Ole Miss struggled down the stretch to get that nail-in-the-coffin basket, and it allowed Temple to linger around. Part of it could be gelling, part of it could be fatigue.

A Look at the Defense

Speaking of the defense, let’s take a look at it so far. Ole Miss’ defense prides itself on taking away the middle, forcing opponents down the baseline and taking away ball reversals. This year, Ole Miss has given up 67.0 points-per-contest and has done a really good job at limiting the number of two-point field goals teams get.

This can be further elaborated by Ole Miss’ ability to protect the rim. In 105 possessions at the rim, Ole Miss ranks in the 83rd percentile allowing less than 1.00 points per possession there and holding teams to 49.5%.

Where teams have had success against Ole Miss is out on the perimeter. With Ole Miss having a noticeable size advantage, that helps them do a really good job at pushing teams farther from the basket. But opposing teams have begun to play into that, trying to create their own mismatches. Detroit Mercy ran a five-guard lineup with five out to stretch the Ole Miss defense. Temple played five out last night. Ole Miss has given 155 jump shot attempts this year and of those 118 have been three point attempts.

Last night, Temple shot 31 threes, and converted 12 of them. They weren’t as successful as Ole Miss’ 10-for-18 mark but they got hot in the second half. After shooting 5-for-16 from deep in the first half, Temple shot 7-for-15 in the second half. Going back into the depth point and how teams have stretched out Ole Miss, Temple really found threes in two ways. The first was that Temple tried to hunt favorable matchups for Miller and Hoffman to find shots on the perimeter. This normally involved getting switches on to bigger Ole Miss defenders. The second came from long offensive rebounds for second-chance opportunities. Ole Miss spent a lot of time in scramble in the second half creating quality looks for Temple.

This isn’t a bad thing for Ole Miss, because the Rebels are a rather disciplined defensive team at this moment. They also are adjusting and tweaking things to find what works for them. We’ve seen several rotations and different styles of lineups. Initially, Ole Miss switched most everything, now we are seeing more drop defense, stunt and recovers, and more. Ole Miss is figuring it out, and that is what some of the conference is for. Look to see Ole Miss try and find more ways to limit success from the perimeter as the year goes on.

Ole Miss won a tough road game

Ole Miss was favored slightly ahead of this game against a newly-led Temple program. That being said it’s a quality win on the road. It was also a good road test to see how the team plays on the road, and Ole Miss delivered with its best offensive performance of the year. It was a much-needed game to win and showed a lot.

Now, Ole Miss enters a tougher stretch for the non-conference with quality opponents in the near future. To start, Ole Miss will face off against NC State in the ACC/SEC showdown which could be an important home game come later in the season. Then, future games against Memphis, UCF, and Cal await. We now have seen different lineups, different rotations and more. Ole Miss will look to translate that into some important games ahead of conference play. We can get a feel for where this Ole Miss group is based on how they play in the next month.

Next Up: 

Ole Miss hosts NC State Tuesday, November 28, at 8:00 p.m. at the SJB Pavilion. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Then, on Saturday, December 2, the Rebels host Memphis with tipoff set for 1:00 p.m. That game will also be broadcast on ESPN2.