Ole Miss looks to rebound from its first loss of the season when it visits Memphis on Saturday.
The Rebels (6-1) are coming off a 59-55 loss to Oklahoma in the championship game of the ESPN Events Invitational on Sunday in Orlando. The Tigers (5-2) cruised past visiting North Alabama 87-68 for their third straight victory on Wednesday.
Ole Miss took a 55-52 lead against the Sooners on Myles Burns’ dunk with 4:26 remaining. But the Rebels went scoreless the rest of the way — missing all eight of their shots — as Oklahoma ended the game on a 7-0 run.
Amaree Abram scored a game-high 17 points to go along with five assists and two steals, while TJ Caldwell added 10 points and Jaemyn Brakefield finished with five points and 10 rebounds.
Abram was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week along with Arkansas’ Anthony Black after accounting for 30.8 percent of Ole Miss’ scoring during its three games at the tournament. He also scored 26 in a 72-68 win over Stanford and 19 in a 74-62 victory over Siena.
“We have a good team. It’s a long season, but we got better in Orlando,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said. “We wished we could’ve won the championship, no question about it. We’ll get back, settled in, back in school and get ready for a good Memphis team.”
Memphis led North Alabama 46-28 at halftime and never looked back.
Kendric Davis scored a game-high 18 points, while DeAndre Williams added 15 points for the Tigers. Alex Lomax scored four points, but added eight assists, six rebounds and a career-high-tying five steals. Keonte Kennedy chipped in 11 points and Johnathan Lawson finished with 10 points.
“We got a little better offensively,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “We’re still trying to learn from each other. We’re trying to keep preaching the same message about getting the ball from one side to the other and moving the defense and then attacking the paint.”
Davis, a transfer from SMU, was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week after averaging 19 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists in Memphis’ wins over Nebraska and Stanford and a loss to Seton Hall at the ESPN Events Invitational.
Memphis is entering a stretch in which four of its next five games are against SEC teams. After facing the Rebels and hosting Little Rock on Tuesday, Memphis faces No. 15 Auburn on Saturday in Atlanta before visiting No. 11 Alabama on Dec. 13 and hosting Texas A&M on Dec. 17.
–Field Level Media
