It wasn’t the desired situation for either team, but Ole Miss and Utah hope to end their stays in Palm Desert, Calif., with a win as they face off in the consolation game of the Acrisure Classic on Wednesday night.
Ole Miss (5-1) lost 74-69 loss to Iowa on Tuesday. The Rebels kept it within eight points the entirety of the contest but held the lead for only a little longer than three minutes.
The Rebels couldn’t contain Bennett Stirtz, who put up 29 points, including 18 in the second half.
AJ Storr led the way for Ole Miss with 22 points and five rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting. Kezza Giffa (13) and Ilias Kamardine (12) were the other double-digit scorers.
It was an uptick in competition for Ole Miss, getting its first look at a power-conference opponent this season. That showed as the Rebels were held to fewer than 70 points for the first time. The Rebels were efficient from the field, hitting 46.9% overall and 35.3% from 3-point range.
However, Ole Miss tied a season high in turnovers with 13 and matched a season low in forced turnovers with seven, including only one in the second half.
Ahead of the game, Ole Miss coach Chris Beard knew his team couldn’t expect any favors from the Hawkeyes.
“They’re a very disciplined team and they’re not going to beat themselves,” he said.
And they didn’t.
Utah (5-2) ended up in this game after falling to Grand Canyon 68-58 for the Utes’ second straight loss.
Terrence Brown came into the game averaging the second-most points in the country (25.2), but struggled mightily against the Lopes. Brown finished with a season-low nine points on 3-for-11 shooting.
Don McHenry led the way for Utah with 16 points, but the Utes had a woeful offensive day. They were held in check by Grand Canyon and didn’t surpass 80 points for the first time this year.
Grand Canyon got a lot of work inside with 40 points in the paint but didn’t hit a single 3-pointer, going 0 of 10 from long distance.
“It only gets harder,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said in a postgame interview on ESPN 700 AM in Salt Lake City.
“(We) haven’t watched a ton of tape on them,” Jensen said of Ole Miss. “I imagine they’re probably a step above Grand Canyon, not to take anything away from them.
“We’re at the point now where we’ll prepare for Ole Miss, but there’s things we need to do ourselves, regardless of who we’re playing against.”
–Field Level Media
