Yesterday's game was more of the same for the Rebels. We won, but it was mostly because of blind luck and chance.
The win keeps it possible for the Rebs to make the NCAA tournament without winning the conference tournament in my opinion. It was a good win, but it's probably too little, too late.
Obviously, Trevor Gaskins proved his worth yesterday, scoring fourteen points on 5-9 shooting and only turning hte ball over once. It intrigues me that Gaskins was able to do so well in fifteen minutes. Gaskins' only other game of any significance this entire season came in the Rebels' 80-76 win at Georgia, where Gaskins scored eleven points. It's good to see that Gaskins' shot fell for him yesterday. While he has certainly been disappointing this season, it would really help our chances at winning if Gaskins could do something with the 8-15 minutes per game he's likely to get from here on out. I love to see a role player step up and have a big game in a clutch situation. Good job, Trevor.
Terrance Henry is another "role player" who played well. Henry scored eleven points in fifteen minutes, grabbing four boards and only one foul during that time. Yet the question remains, why did Henry only play for fifteen minutes? Reggie Buckner's play was awful, and DeAundre Cranston is, as I've said before, a role player who receives too much playing time. For our team to be as dynamic as Kennedy wants it to be, Terrance Henry needs to be on the court.
Speaking of Deaundre Cranston, 20 minutes. 7 rebounds. 2 blocks. 3 fouls. 3 points. I like rebounds as much as anyone, but I've never seen Cranston make any move on the boards of which anyone else on our team in incapable. The rebounds simply came from him playing the five at the right time. I like Cranston, but I don't think he should be getting more minutes than either Henry or Buckner.
The other traditional big man, Reggie Buckner, had a very bad game. Buckner fouled out with zero points, 1 block, and four boards. Buckner just hasn't been the same since the ankle injury. He is often out of position, and he does very little offensively.
Murphy Holloway reminded me of why he's my favorite player on the team, quietly coming away with 16 points and seven boards. For a player who is so involved even when not compiling many stats, when Holloway is doing things that go on the stat sheet, his impact is doubled. Also, Murphy Holloway is the only player on our team who follows his shot.
Eniel Polynice continued his funk, scoring only five points and drawing no shooting fouls, but he was better than his primary backup, Zach Graham. Graham was 0-6, drew no fouls, and just didn't appear prepared to play. Granted, Zach played for only 12 minutes, so maybe that had something to do with not finding a rhythm.
Terrico White's 4-6 from three point range was pivotal to the Rebels' win, but White was also a liability with the ball in that he turned it over five times. Still, he was very important to our offensive surges near the end of the game.
Chris Warren played efficient basketball, going 2-4 from three point range while scoring 14 points. Warren also logged seven assists, an unexpected turn for the "point" guard.
All in all, it was a good game. Like they have many times this season, the Rebels came back from a double digit deficit late in the second half. While we should be concerned about our chances to beat Kentucky or Vanderbilt, I'm not sure there are any other teams against whom we could match up in the SEC tournament that would be an insurmountable foe.
What did y'all think?