Larry Brown Sports

Marshall Henderson capped off his highly-publicized 2012-2013 season on Sunday the way most of us probably expected him to — by flipping off the fans. After Ole Miss lost to La Salle in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Henderson gave some of the fans above the tunnel the double middle finger. He confirmed that he made the gesture after the game, telling reporters that a fan said something derogatory about his sister and called him a coke head.

Thanks to College Basketball Talk, we now have video of the incident. As you can see from the clip above, Henderson did indeed give some fans the finger. He also booted some water bottles in frustration on his way to the locker room.

What did you expect? No player enjoys losing a 76-74 heartbreaker in the NCAA Tournament, and this is the same guy who went off on a fake Kentucky player’s Twitter account and taunted Florida fans by doing the Gator Chomp. That’s just the way Marshall rolls, and he certainly doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it.

Marshall Henderson and Johnny Manziel have bonded over Twitter in the past few days and are in the process of forming one of the most perfect friendships in all of collegiate athletics.

It all started with a tweet from Johnny Football to the Ole Miss guard on Saturday that resulted in a response from Henderson a day later:

@jmanziel2 preciate ya big dog!!! ima be in college station for chili fest if we dont make the final 4, gonna have ta link up

— marshall henderson (@NativeFlash22) March 24, 2013

Chilifest 2013, baby. It is going down. The meetup of the century. Henderson and Manziel tearing up the chili festival in Snook, Texas. Slamming cornbread and chili bowls while listening to country music.

Seriously though, these two seem like perfect friends. Manziel doesn’t have the villain persona that Henderson does, but he has become the partying badboy who refuses to make his life private. Henderson also appears to be a party animal, and he has been leading Ole Miss to upset wins. Both were top newcomers in the SEC and led their respective underdog teams to surprising success. Manziel is much better in his sport than Henderson is, but the two seem to have a lot in common.

Marshall Henderson was definitely feeling himself after Ole Miss knocked off Wisconsin 57-46 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday, because he got on his Twitter account and started going nuts despite his poor shooting performance.

Henderson already predicted that Ole Miss was going to advance to the Sweet 16 in Los Angeles before even knowing whom Ole Miss would be facing:

LOVE MY TEAMMATES!! BRING ON WHOEVER NEXT!! #HOTTYTODDY #STAPLESCENTERBOUND

— marshall henderson (@NativeFlash22) March 22, 2013

He retweeted messages sent to him by some haters and he bragged about an interview he would be having with Charles Barkley. But the best part of his Twitter adventures was when he responded to tweets from a phony Twitter account posing as Kentucky sophomore guard Ryan Harrow.

The first tweet to Henderson from the phony Harrow account told the Ole Miss star to “calm down” after boasting about getting tweeted by LeBron James. The next tweet prompted a response from Henderson:

The fake Harrow account has over 23,000 followers, which makes it understandable why Henderson tweeted at it as if it were real. But does it even matter that it’s fake? Heck no. All that matters is that Henderson thought it was Harrow and responded by peppering him with some outstanding trash talk. I’m sure plenty of people can’t wait to see him knocked out of the tournament, but I hope Ole Miss keeps winning. This guy is too funny.

Marshall Henderson has been one of the most entertaining players throughout the college basketball season, so it’s no surprise that a few players he likes in the NBA are big showmen.

During a news conference Thursday a day ahead of Ole Miss’ first-round NCAA Tournament game against Wisconsin, Henderson revealed that two of his favorite NBA players are notorious celebrators and knuckleheads JR Smith and JaVale McGee.

“[AAU basketball] got me into head bobbing and trash-talking kind of stuff. And my favorite players in the NBA all do that stuff, like J.R. Smith. People like that. JaVale McGee. I love those kinds of players. They can put a crowd in the arena, sell some tickets. … That’s what it’s about,” Henderson told reporters, per USA Today’s Chris Chase.

That’s what it’s all about huh. It’s not about winning championships, trying to make All-Star games or even aspiring to reach the Basketball Hall of Fame. Nope. For Marshall Henderson, it’s all about entertaining the fans. I suppose that is pretty important, though others would argue that winning and playing well are more important.

Henderson seems to be pretty awesome at entertaining fans, so long as he’s not playing against your team. He regularly taunts opposing fans, and he’s bragged about partying after games. He does make college basketball fun to follow, that’s for sure.

Henderson is also a pretty humorous dude. When asked whether his antics were calculated, he offered a tremendous response.

“I guess. I don’t know. I’m not real good at math.… Other than two, plus three. I know that one well.”

Awesome. I do hope this guy makes it into the NBA, because it seems like he can become a Gilbert Arenas type of personality.

Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson had himself quite a day on Sunday, as he dropped 21 points and led the Rebels to a victory over Florida in the SEC Championship Game. He also continued to convince fans to hate him by busting out the Gator Chomp and taunting the Florida fans. It appears the fun continued after the game.

Ole Miss linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche tweeted the photo you see above of him and another football player hanging out with Henderson after the big win. The 22-year-old Henderson may have just been messing around and making a goofy face, but it looked like he was partying quite hard. A tweet that he sent on his own account seemed to support the latter theory.

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Marshall Henderson is a player fans love to hate, and he plays the role to perfection.

During Sunday’s SEC tournament championship game, Henderson taunted Florida fans by doing the Gator Chomp after making a 3-pointer to put Ole Miss up 59-53. The three gave the Rebels their biggest lead of the game, and it came five minutes after Henderson made three free throws to give Ole Miss its first lead of the game.

Players know the easiest way to get Gators fans ticked at you is by doing that gesture towards the crowd. Brock Berlin was hated after he did it to Florida fans following his transfer to Miami, and now Henderson joins him in the same category. Henderson previously antagonized Auburn fans with a taunting celebration following a win in January.

Henderson is doing his best to become one of the biggest characters this March.

“I dreamed I gave them the Gator chomp. Then I woke up and said, ‘Hmmmm, gator bait,’ ” Henderson said after the game, per The Palm Beach Post’s Jason Lieser.

A day earlier, Henderson shared his hilarious goal for the rest of the season: “make a name for myself so I can get this money.”

Henderson had 21 points in the 66-63 win over Florida. He’ll have a chance to impress scouts Friday in the tourney against No. 5 seed Wisconsin. We’ll see if he can get that paper.

Marshall Henderson has drawn attention this season for exhibiting colorful behavior and stellar skills while leading Ole Miss to success.

The junior guard is averaging 19.3 points per game and has helped the Rebels go 17-3. He received attention after taunting Auburn’s fans during a win over the Tigers last weekend, and his fiery personality was on display when he threw some ice off the court during a loss to Kentucky on Tuesday.

Many college basketball fans only learned of Henderson in recent months because he has bounced around during his career; Ole Miss is his fourth college. Henderson is also overcoming a troubled past.

It was commonly known that Henderson was busted for buying 57 grams of marijuana using $800 of counterfeit money while a high school senior in May 2009. He also tried exchanging $100 of counterfeit money for real money. It was also known that Henderson spent 25 days in jail last year, though the reason was not specified.

On Wednesday, USA Today’s Nicole Auerbach explained why.

According to USA Today, Henderson was ultimately charged with a misdemeanor forgery charge after giving a statement to Secret Service agents in 2010 concerning the 2009 incident. He was on deferred adjudicated probation for two years (the charge would have come off his record if he followed his probation), but he violated it on eight counts. He reportedly tested positive for cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol last year and was sentenced to four months in jail. He reportedly served 25 days in jail and seven weekends on work release.

Between his legal problems and play on the court, it’s easy to see that Henderson has that wild child attitude.