Deandre Williams and Alex Lomax powered the Memphis Tigers to a 68-57 win over the Ole Miss Rebels in front of 13,264 towel waving fans at Fed Ex Forum. The Tigers jumped on the Rebels early, holding Ole Miss to just two made field goals in the opening 12:40 of the game while building a 30-8 lead. During the stretch, Lomax led the charge scoring 10 of 14 points and garnering 2 of his 4 steals. The Memphis defense so frustrated the Rebels, head coach Kermit Davis was forced to use three of his timeouts in the first twelve minutes of action.
While Lomax sparked the opening surge, Williams was the constant force throughout the game. The senior delivered a game high 17 points, pulled down 14 rebounds (9 offensive) and dished out 7 assists in one of his better outings on the season.
The Rebel defense seemed intent on making someone other than Kendric Davis beat them on this night. Davis was double teamed frequently throughout the game and most every drive was met by an interior defender moving over to stop his drives to the basket. Davis on the night was 4-18 from the field and only 1-7 from the three point line. Davis ended the game with 14 points.
The Tigers three man center rotation of Chandler Lawson, Malcolm Dandridge and Kao Akobundu-Ehiogu delivered 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Lawson had 9 points and 6 rebounds in the starting role with Dandridge chipping in 6 and 2 rebounds. Kao only had one bucket but he did deliver solid interior defense and had the two blocks.
At the half, the Tigers lead was 36-22, but the Rebels would come out strong to start the second half led by Memphis’ Whitehaven guard Matthew Murrell who ended the night with a team leading 13 points. Ole Miss quickly cut the lead to ten before Davis hit a jumper and two free throws to put the lead back to 14. Williams then hit a layup off a nice touch pass from Dandridge for the score plus an and one and the Tigers were up 17.
Ole Miss dialed up the intensity on their defense trying to claw their way back into the game but every Rebel run was met with a Tiger stepping up. The lead fluctuated from 10-15 most of the second half until the Rebels were finally able to get the deficit under ten with 2:43 left. The closest Ole Miss would get was 63-55 with 1:42 left. Memphis would hold the Rebels off hitting six free throws in the final 2:17 and forcing Ole Miss into two turnovers. On the night the Tigers defense forced the Rebels into 16 turnovers.
On the night Memphis shot 39.1% from the field while holding Ole Miss to 33.3%. Memphis was 1-15 from beyond the arc for 6.7% while the Rebels were 5-20 for 25%. The Tigers outrebounded the Rebels 42-39 and had five fewer turnovers than Ole Miss, only committing 11 for the game. Memphis had 15 assists on 27 made shots and was 13-16 at the line for 81.3%
Memphis is now 6-2 on the season heading into a Tuesday night home game with Little Rock.
Player of the Game: Deandre Williams with a strong nod to Alex Lomax
