OXFORD – Ole Miss senior guard Ilias Kamardine scored 16 of his game-high 26 points in the first half Tuesday night against Memphis, and the Rebels endured a late Tigers rally to notch an 83-77 victory at SJB Pavilion.
Ole Miss (3-0) led by as many as 11 in the second half and shot 52% from the field overall. The Rebels hit 8 of 13 shots from 3-point range in the game and attempted 33 free throws in the game compared to 20 for the Tigers.
Kamardine finished 11 of 14 from the field.
“I didn’t think we cracked in terms of poise and all. We just have to play better,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “In two of those possessions, our offense didn’t help our defense. … And I thought defensively we had some mistakes late. Not taking anything away from Memphis, they were aggressive, (head coach) Penny (Hardaway) was finding the mismatch that he wanted. But we’ve got to do a lot better, cleaning things up and finishing the game a lot stronger.”
Memphis (1-1) made 5 of 6 shots from the field to start the game, though a more than three-minute scoring drought midway through the first half resulted in a 23-17 Rebels lead. The Tigers cut the lead down to three with just over a minute remaining in the first by way of a Quante Berry 3-pointer, but back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Travis Perry – his first made field goal of the season – and senior Kezza Giffa as the half winded down gave the Rebels a 42-33 halftime lead. Ole Miss shot 54% from the field in the first, led by Kamardine’s 7-for-9 effort.
A 3-pointer from Kamardine with 14:34 left in the second half opened up Ole Miss’ first double-digit lead of the evening. A 3-pointer from Curtis Givens III cut the Rebels’ lead down to just four with just over two minutes to play in the second, but late free throws from senior guard AJ Storr, Kamardine and Giffa and a fastbreak dunk from Kamardine sealed Ole Miss’ win. Ole Miss was 4 for 8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes of the game.
Giffa finished with 15 points and a game-high five assists, while senior forward Malik Dia scored 13. Storr finished with 10.
“In a win like this, one thing that I learned is – we’ve been working on that in practice as well,” Giffa said. “Take care of the ball, stay together, trust in the work, trusting our coaching staff as well. We got prepared for those moments, so it was just natural for us.”
Ole Miss hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Tad Smith Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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