Ole Miss Defeats Georgia State

The Ole Miss Rebels bounced back from their 75-63 loss to Seton Hall Sunday at the Gildan Charleston Classic to defeat the Georgia State Panthers 68-59 in Oxford Wednesday night.

The Rebels were carried by their senior leader Stefan Moody who went 6 of 13 from the floor with 21 points, along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Moody also had two three-pointers to match Tomasz Gielo’s two shots from behind the arc.

Gielo added 13 points and 6 rebounds, continuing his team contributions from the tournament in Charleston this past weekend, where he scored a career high 15 points against Seton Hall.

The role for the 6-9 senior from Poland is beginning to grow.

“He’s our best ball-mover.” Were the words of praise used by head coach Andy Kennedy to describe Gielo in the post-game press conference Wednesday night. “He make plays for other players and takes some of the pressure off Moody.”

And taking the pressure off Moody is exactly what the Rebels need. Moody only got to catch his breath for 2 minutes during the game, playing for 38 minutes Wednesday night, partially due to Gielo fouling out in 24 minutes.

But if any Ole Miss player is going to get the most time off the bench, it’s going to be Moody. Moody was moved from shooting guard to point guard for the third time Wednesday night in Andy Kennedy’s hopes of “Revamping” the offense after Ole Miss’s first loss to George Mason. This is Moody’s first time as point guard in his Ole Miss career, and he has risen to the challenge.

In the past three games, including the contest against Georgia St., the new point guard has scored 64 points, making 44.4% of his shots from the floor and scoring a career high 30 points against Towson, a record that is surely to be broken soon.

Even though the Rebels kept the lead for almost the entire contest, they kept Georgia State in the game with turnovers. The turnovers weren’t caused by the Georgia State full court press but rather being careless with the basketball. A season high 15 turnovers by the Rebels led to easy fast break points for the Panthers who struggled offensively, making only 41.2% of their shots from the field.

Silence cast over the Ole Miss fans when forward Anthony Perez went down with an injury in the beginning of the 2nd half. He left the court with a cut on the back of the head. He did not return to the game and will go through the NCAA concussion protocol within the next few days.

Georgia State trailed by only 2 points in a close 58-56 game with two minutes left to play. A scramble for the basketball at center court, a pivotal moment in the game, ultimately ended up in the hands of Moody who finished the play with a slam dunk with 53.2 seconds left, pushing the Rebels towards their fourth win.

The Rebels are now 4-2 and will travel to Carver Arena in Peoria, Illinois to play the 1-5 Bradley Braves on Saturday, November 28 at 1:00 p.m.

Jack Olstad is a journalism student at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. He can be reached at jtolstad@go.olemiss.edu.

Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram and Twitter @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…