BYU and Ole Miss will face their stiffest tests of the season on Thanksgiving Day when they square off in the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego.
The No. 23 Rebels (5-0) and Cougars (5-0), who are on the verge of being ranked in the Top 25, come into Thursday’s evenly matched contest with undefeated records and on the heels of matching blowout victories at home.
The teams will be paired against Purdue or Louisville, the other teams in the holiday tournament, on Friday, depending on results from their matchup.
Ole Miss stormed past Oral Roberts 100-68 last Thursday and was rewarded with a spot in the rankings once again. The Rebels had dipped out of the poll after tight wins over Grambling (66-64) and South Alabama (64-54).
Sean Pedulla and Matthew Murrell each scored 19 points to lift Mississippi over the Eagles. The Rebels scored 37 points off 21 Eagles turnovers.
“This early in the journey, I would say the vision for this team still stands kind of true,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “We’ve just got to get better. We’re a work in progress. Each day in practice, each day in the film room, each opportunity to play in a game gives us a chance to keep working towards the team we all want to be.”
BYU welcomed back point guard Dallin Hall in Provo, Utah, on Saturday. The senior missed the first four games with a toe injury. He scored 10 points with five assists in the Cougars’ 87-43 win over Mississippi Valley State.
Fousseyni Traore led BYU with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Kanon Catchings had 14 points.
Freshman Egor Demin, a projected lottery pick who’ll share point guard duties with Hall, contributed eight points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and one blocked shot.
“It’s fun to play the game with someone who sees the game so similarly,” Hall said of the 18-year-old Russian. “I have never played with someone like Egor.”
–Field Level Media
