Moussa Cisse and the Memphis Tigers take on the Ole Miss Rebels in a game pitting ranked foes against one another.
Saturday, December 28th, 2:00 pm ET. ESPN2
Location: FedExForum in Memphis, TN
Even with the transfer portal in place, there are not many games in major college basketball that feature a key player going against a former team. This is one of those games.
The Memphis Tigers are hosting the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday after the holiday break. The game will give Tigers center Moussa Cisse an opportunity to play against one of his previous programs.
A week ago, this was going to be a game against ranked foes. The Rebels held up their end of the bargain against weak competition, but the Tigers lost to Ole Miss’ Egg Bowl rival, Mississippi State, by double digits; Memphis is now on the outside looking in of the AP Top 25.
The No. 16 rankings is not insignificant for the Rebels, as it matches the program’s highest ranking in 11 years. Chris Beard’s squad is firing on all cylinders, paced by its veteran leadership.
Ole Miss’ only loss of the season came in a competitive tilt against Purdue. Otherwise, the Rebels have been perfect. That’s in large part due to the efforts of leading scorer Sean Pedulla. The Virginia Tech transfer is averaging 14.8 points per game, hitting more than 42 percent of his three-point attempts.
Nobody can take Maui away from Memphis, but the Tigers have looked pedestrian in recent games, which include losses to Arkansas State and Mississippi State. In the past four, they’ve also beaten Clemson and Virginia, but didn’t look particularly impressive in either win.
Still, this is a team with a high ceiling, as seen in Hawaii earlier this year. PJ Haggerty is averaging 22.5 points per game, Tyrese Hunter looks good in his new uniform and there are plenty of transfer veterans playing for Penny Hardaway, including Dain Dainja, Colby Rogers and Cisse. Depth could be a concern, though.
A key swing in this game will be turnovers. Ole Miss is one of the best teams in the country at hanging on to the ball, sporting a 12.8 turnover percentage on offense; they’re also one of the best at forcing turnovers on the other end. Memphis, meanwhile, sports a 20 turnover percentage, one of the worst in the country. Big advantage Rebels.
These two teams played a close game last year. Memphis led on the road at the half, but Ole Miss won 80-77 after dropping 50 points in the second half. Cisse, a backup for the Rebels at the time, logged two points and five rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.
That game isn’t particularly instructive when it comes to this year’s competition, as both of the rosters are virtually unrecognizable from 12 short months ago.
This promises to be a competitive game, one of the best non-conference competitions at the end of this portion of the year. Ultimately, being at home should be enough for Memphis to carry the day.
Prediction: Memphis 75, Ole Miss 70
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