The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Basketball to Host Australia in Exhibition Game
6/21/1999 | Men's Basketball
November 8, 1998
OXFORD, Miss.-- The Ole Miss Rebel basketball team will host North Melbourne, Australia, in an exhibition game on Monday, Nov. 9 at Tad Smith Coliseum. The contest, which will be the Rebels' final exhibition, is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. tip. Admission for the general public is $5, and Ole Miss students will be admitted free with a University ID.
In the first exhibition on Nov. 3, junior Marcus Hicks led six Rebels in double figures with a game-high 17 points in helping Ole Miss to a 105-80 victory over Spirit Express. Keith Carter, Johnnie Rogers, Darrian Brown and Jason Harrison each scored 15 points apiece, while Lataryl Williams added 11 points in the Rebel win. Brown led the Rebels on the boards with eight rebounds.
"I saw some positives in our first exhibition game, but I also saw some areas in which we needed to improve," said Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes, who is in his first season at the helm of the Rebel program. "We have worked hard in practice this past week to get prepared for this exhibition game, and the team is ready to play."
North Melbourne, which won the 1993 CBA National Championship, enters Monday's game with a 0-5 record on its current tour. The Giants have lost to Indiana (109-67), Purdue (94-62), Michigan (80-48), Southern Illinois (80-72) and Western Kentucky (81-60). In the Giants' last game on Saturday at Western Kentucky, Vlad Boer led North Melbourne with 16 points.
The Rebels will open regular-season play on Friday, Nov. 13 versus Alabama State at Tad Smith Coliseum. Game time is 7:00 p.m. The Hornets posted victories in their two exhibition contests with wins over Skovbakken, Denmark (84-65) on Nov. 3 and Vasda USA (91-70) on Nov 7.
Ole Miss finished the 1997-98 campaign with a 22-7 overall record and a 12-4 Southeastern Conference mark. The Rebels won their second straight SEC Western Division title and received their second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
