The trials, tribulations and woes that plagued Ole Miss men’s basketball during non-conference play have been well-documented.
Through two SEC games those issues haven’t totally disappeared, but the Rebels’ play has improved as coach Chris Beard searches for the right rotation of players.
One of his most significant changes took place Wednesday night in a 94-87 loss to No. 15 Arkansas. AJ Storr had started all 14 games for Ole Miss this season, but was on the bench to start against the Razorbacks. In his place was Eduardo Klafke.
Klafke was 4-for-5 from the field and finished the game with 11 points, one rebound, three assists, two steals and a block. Storr saw the same amount of playing time (19 minutes) as Klafke and posted similar numbers. He had 12 points, one rebound, two assists and a block. The biggest difference was Storr was 5-for-10 from the field and 0-for-2 on three-pointers (Klafke was 1-for-2).
Based on Beard’s post-game comments, Klafke can expect his 10.9 minutes per game increase significantly.
“It was great to see,” Beard said of Klafke’s performance. “He earned the right to start tonight, and the way he played in the second half showed the confidence and aggressiveness we need.
“We’ve talked about this before; it hasn’t been an ideal rotation situation this season. But we know Klafke is going to play hard and bring effort. As he continues to produce, he could have a really good rest of the season. He was aggressive, locked in, and deserving of the minutes he got. He’ll continue to get them.”
Search for rotation continues
The search for the ideal rotation will obviously continue and a lot of Rebels are getting opportunities to earn more playing time. Against Arkansas, 12 different Rebels saw at least six minutes of playing time. Four were on the court for 20 or minutes and four more ranged between 11-19 minutes.
“We’ll keep practices competitive and evaluate everything objectively,” Beard said. “We’re going to keep having open conversations with our players about expectations. It starts with attitude, effort, and body language.
“I’ll have to watch the film, but the end of that game was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Guys are getting opportunities. Now we need more production, and our coaching staff has to be better, too.”
The “fun” time Beard mentioned was when the Rebels mounted a late comeback bid against Arkansas.
Ole Miss trailed 88-75 with 4:19 left in the game and outscored the Razorbacks 10-6 in the closing stretch. However, the closest the Rebels would get is a four-point deficit with 61 seconds left to play.
“We just had guys out there who were playing really hard,” Ole Miss senior Malik Dia said. “Everybody on the team could score the ball. We just had guys out there who were playing pretty hard and who made a lot of plays. Shout out to that last group and the guys who were on the bench were sitting there encouraging them.”
Next Up
Expect to see a similar number of Ole Miss players on the court for its next SEC game against Missouri on Saturday. The Tigers are coming off a 73-68 win against Kentucky to improve to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in SEC play.
Tipoff Saturday in Oxford is set for 5 p.m.
