April 13, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss men’s basketball team added three players to its 2011-12 signing class, including a first-team Junior College All-American, head coach Andy Kennedy announced Friday.

Joining the Rebels for the 2012-13 academic year will be junior college transfers Marshall Henderson (Hurst, Texas) and Jason Carter (Houston, Texas), as well as prep school signee Derrick Millinghaus (Schenectady, N.Y.).

“We are very excited to be adding these players to our program,” Kennedy said. “Each brings a specific skill-set that we believe will enhance the capabilities of next year's team.”

Henderson, a 6-2, 180-pound guard, recently led his South Plains College Texans to the junior college national championship and No. 1 ranking in the NJCAA with a perfect 36-0 record. The NJCAA first-team All-American scored 32 points in the title game victory over Northwest Florida and was named to the All-Tournament team. Playing for coach Steve Green, Henderson averaged 19.6 points per game and made 41 percent from 3-point territory (128 of 312) and 87 percent of his free throws (91 of 105) this season en route to conference MVP honors.

“Marshall is an outstanding shooter who will immediately bring some much-needed scoring to our backcourt,” Kennedy said. “Not only was he instrumental in helping South Plains go 36-0 and win the national championship, the experience that he garnered as a freshman at Utah will certainly serve him well in making the transition to the SEC.”

The native Texan began his college career at Utah. He started 30 games and averaged 11.8 points as a freshman and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West. He transferred to Texas Tech where he sat out his sophomore season before electing to transfer to South Plains last year after Texas Tech terminated head coach Pat Knight. In prep ball, he scored 2,829 career points while playing for his father at L.D. Bell High School and averaged 25.8 points his senior year en route to district MVP honors.

Henderson will have two years to play two for the Rebels.

Carter, a 6-8, 230-pound forward, will arrive in Oxford after one season at Chipola Junior College under the direction of head coach Jake Headrick. Before going down for the season with a knee injury early in conference play, Carter led the Indians to a 19-1 record and averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per contest.

“We are very familiar with Jason's game having recruited him out of high school two years ago,” Kennedy said. “He brings versatility to the forward position with the ability to stretch the floor by making perimeter shots.”

Carter played in 16 games for Alabama as a freshman in 2010-11, averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in limited minutes. Originally from New Orleans, Carter’s family moved to Texas after Hurricane Katrina. He attended Christian Life Center Academy in Humble and averaged 14.6 points and 10 rebounds in leading CLCA to a 30-1 record as a senior. Coming out of high school, he was ranked as a three-star recruit and No. 107 nationally by Rivals.com.

Carter will have three years to play two for the Rebels. He chose Ole Miss over Missouri, LSU, Texas Tech, Long Beach State and Arizona State.

A 5-10, 160-pound point guard, Millinghaus attended Believe (N.C.) Academy this season after graduating from Queen City (N.C.) Prep following the 2010-11 campaign. At Believe, he averaged 28 points per game and shot 43 percent from beyond the arc.

“Derrick is an explosive lead guard who has the ability to create off the dribble for himself and his teammates,” Kennedy said. “He plays strong while being able to score in a variety of ways.”

A native of Schenectady, N.Y., Millinghaus played at Schenectady High School through his junior year. He averaged 20.5 points in 2009-10.

Millinghaus will have four years to play for the Rebels. He chose Ole Miss over Cincinnati, Georgia, Miami and Hofstra.

The trio will join Ole Miss’ two additions from the fall signing period – Martavious Newby (Memphis, Tenn.) and Anthony Perez-Cortesia (Cumana, Venezuela) – to bolster a roster that should include four of five starters from a team that went 20-14 and made the NIT.