The No. 16 Ole Miss Rebels‘ second defeat of the season came by the hands of the Memphis Tigers on Saturday in an 87-70 final score, marking the most points Ole Miss has allowed this season.
The loss was only the second for Ole Miss (11-2) this season, but it provides a stumbling block for the Rebels as they prepare for conference play in early January.
The first half started with Memphis coming out firing. The Tigers came out quick, opening the scoring an “and one,” taking a 3-0 lead. Memphis did not relinquish that lead for the remainder of the half, even leading by 13 partway through.
However, in the waning minutes of the half, the Rebels came charging back, cutting the deficit to two points at the intermission behind a great team display and seeming to inject some hope into the Ole Miss sideline.
Ole Miss was out rebounded 22-20 before halftime, allowing eight offensive boards in the first frame of play as well as going 5-of-12 from beyond the arc and 13-of-32 overall from the field.
It was a lot of the same in the early part of the second half. Memphis quickly extended its lead to 13 once again behind some gritty offensive possessions, converting on second chance points.
Not only did the Rebels struggle defensively, but they also had no answer offensively as they continued to struggle from three. Ole Miss finished the game shooting just 25 percent from downtown and 36.4 percent from the field compared to Memphis’ percentages of 36.8 and 47.5, respectively.
Ole Miss also lost a vital member of its squad early in the second half as Mikeal Brown-Jones was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul in the first five minutes of play.
Memphis continued to layer the pressure, keeping its lead in double digits for the majority of the half. The Rebels would make another push that cut the lead to nine before ending their own run as Jaylen Murray couldn’t connect from downtown, which the Tigers capitalized on, re-extending their lead to 14 and forcing Chris Beard to use his final timeout with 3:42 left to play.
The Tigers were led by Colby Rodgers who had a season-high 28 points alongside the rest of the Tigers putting up a defensive masterclass. Ole Miss averages nine turnovers a game and was pickpocketed six times and blocked nine times as well. In overall turnovers, the Rebels committed 11.
The Rebels had three players reach double-digit point totals, led by Sean Pedulla with 13. Jaylen Murray (12) and Malik Dia (11) were the other two who surpassed 10 points.
Ole Miss’ struggles were too much to overcome on Saturday as they moved to 11-2 on the season, and Memphis reached the double-digit win mark. The Rebels return to action on Jan. 4 looking for a major bounce-back victory as they move into conference play, taking on Georgia at the SJB Pavilion in Oxford.
