OXFORD — Stefan Moody doesn’t care what outsiders think about him or the Ole Miss men’s basketball team.
Moody’s attitude stems from the fact he flew under the radar early in his career and played on smaller stages like Florida Atlantic and Kilgore College (Texas).
But Moody worked hard last season to change opinions about his game and to raise the Rebels’ profile on the national scene. The 5-foot-10 guard from Kissimmee, Florida, was largely successful, earning first-team All-Southeastern Conference honors from The Associated Press and league coaches and winning the Howell Trophy as the best men’s college basketball player in the state of Mississippi.
Moody will have a new challenge this season. As one of four seniors, he knows he will be counted on to play a key role after the loss of players like M.J. Rhett, Terence Smith, LaDarius White, and Jarvis Summers. The losses could explain why Ole Miss was picked ninth in the SEC preseason poll last week at SEC Media Days in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Some of my teammates were upset, and the new guys weren’t very happy about it,” Moody said Monday at a media availability at the Tuohy Basketball Center. “But, at the end of the day, it is not really a surprise. There never really has been a time when I was picked No. 1 for something. A lot of times I have ended up being the underdog. Ole Miss has kind of been the underdog. But that doesn’t mean we still can’t come out on top.”
A year ago, Moody averaged a league-best 18.6 points per game in Southeastern Conference play last season. His efforts helped him earn first-team All-SEC honors.
This season, Ole Miss has plenty of questions with junior college transfers and freshmen competing for playing time. Moody and coach Andy Kennedy talked Monday about how players like freshman guard Terence Davis, of Southaven, and guards Sam Finley and J.T. Escobar and JUCO transfers like Rasheed Brooks and Tomasz Gielo are trying to fit in and what they will bring to the court when the team opens its season Friday, Nov. 13 against Northwestern State in Tad Smith Coliseum. The hope is all of those players will play key roles to help Ole Miss prove it can do better than the ninth-place preseason pick. The Rebels were picked ninth despite returning three starters from the 2014-15 team that advanced to the NCAA tournament. Ole Miss hasn’t finished worse than sixth in the league since the SEC went away from the divisional format.
Moody said he will look to be a bigger leader and to join classmates Anthony Perez and Martavious Newby in holding themselves and everybody accountable. He said he is more of a “see me do it” kind of leader.
“I have been working on the more vocal side of leadership,” Moody said.
In the offseason, a stress fracture in Moody’s left tibia was discovered. Surgery to repair the injury resulted in a rod being inserted into his leg. Original estimates has the injury keeping Moody sidelined eight to 12 weeks, but he has returned to form after the initial “shock” of the injury. He said Monday he felt like he was “back” (to 100 percent) in August.
“I feel like everything is just a matter of time,” Moody said. “By August, you see yourself getting stronger every day. I already was starting to run and jump a little bit in the training room. It never really crossed my mind (that I wouldn’t be able to get back to where I was).”
Moody said he feels better than before the injury. He said the only thing that could hold him back is the mental aspect of playing tentatively due to the injury. Moody said he can’t afford to have that mind-set because he is being counted on to play an even bigger role for the Rebels this season. That’s why he isn’t going to allow a preseason pick to alter his focus for this season.
“We’ll be a lot faster (as a team),” Moody said. “Last year, we were a little slower. We had more veterans on team and were a little slower. This year, we have some young guys who move a little quicker and are a little more athletic to the ball. We will be more of a faster-paced team.”
Kennedy said Ole Miss continues to try to find the right rotations. He said junior forward Terry Brutus is about two weeks from getting back to the court after needing to have ankle surgery. He said Newby is back from an eye issue. He hopes Moody will be able to assume a similar role as he did last season when he led the Rebels 3-pointers (78), free-throw shooting percentage (90.3 percent) and steals (67) and was second in assists (80).
“It was just an acknowledgment of the fact for my money, he is the best guard in the SEC,” Kennedy said about Moody’s first-team preseason All-SEC pick. “There is nobody in the Southeastern Conference I would trade him for.”
Kennedy said he hasn’t been surprised by how quickly Moody has returned. He credited his medical personnel for discovering the injury that was unrelated to the initial kick to the shin that sidelined Moody.
“This happens on a Thursday, they get the X-ray on a Friday, and he is having surgery on a Saturday,” Kennedy said. “They’re putting a rod in his leg. I am thinking, ‘Wow, what just happened?’ He bounces back, not unlike (Ole Miss wide receiver) Laquon Treadwell. Something that could have been devastating to a normal person, you are shocked at the level in which they come back and the speed with which they come back. He has had no ill effects whatsoever. It could be (because) he is a senior. He is stronger. He is playing with a real sense of urgency. He is actually running faster and jumping higher than he ever has.
“I have tried to take some pressure off because he is a kid who puts a lot of pressure on himself. I have tried to say, ‘Hey, just go out and play, duplicate your numbers. That is going to come.’ I have really impressed on him to take ownership of the program and really be a leader, impose your will on this group, maintain a standard for these new guys. They respect him so much. He works so hard. They see how quickly he came back from an injury which could have been catastrophic if not caught in a timely fashion.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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