Ole Miss returns home from a sweep of Missouri to host Memphis at 6:30 p.m. at Swayze Field. The Rebels are 18-5 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.
Matt Riser is in his second season at the helm of the Memphis baseball program. In the 2024 season, Riser led the Tigers to a 23-32 (10-17 AAC) overall record. Memphis’ season ended with a 11-10 win over Wichita State to close out their 2024 campaign. The Tigers are 11-12 on the 2025 season and are 0-3 in AAC play. Memphis is coming off a 11-1 loss to East Carolina.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series over Memphis 102-57. Tuesday’s matchup will mark the 160th meeting between the two foes with the last being April 2, 2024 where the Tigers walked away with the 9-4 win over the Rebels.
The pitching matchup is lefty Gunnar Dennis (1-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. right-hander Caden Robinson (1-2, 6.88 ERA). Dennis has made six appearances and pitched six innings this season for the Rebels. His command was the calling card when he arrived last season, and he entered the rotation at one point. However, so far this year, Dennis has given up nine hits and seven walks to go with 10 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .333 off him in limited action. He finished last season with a 7.88 ERA in 40 innings.
Here are the SEC standings through two weekends. Florida and Texas A&M are off to 0-6 starts. I still believe in Florida somewhat, and that's Ole Miss' opponent this weekend. The Gators can be streaky and emotional under Kevin O'Sullivan, so best to take Friday and see if they will continue to implode. They are getting healthier and aren't a bad team. Texas A&M has had a year from hell.
Let's shift to basketball and talk Michigan State for a second. The Spartans (29-6) got the Sweet Sixteen with an 87-62 win over Bryant and a 71-63 win over New Mexico. MSU trailed by two at the half of the latter game. The Spartans are 25th nationally in offensive adjusted efficiency and fifth nationally in defensive adjusted efficiency. The defense is keyed by forcing bad shots. MSU is 11th nationally in opposing effective field goal percentage, and they are eighth in not allowing offensive rebounds as well as first in three-point defense -- which means something and is a touch lucky. Ole Miss has to get the extra pass and free up clean outside looks. That's problematic against Michigan State a lot of the time.
The Spartans don't force a lot of turnovers -- 7.8 percent of possessions which is 322nd nationally. They have one of the nation's deepest teams statistically, with 40.5 percent of the minutes played by players off the bench, 17th nationally. Comparatively, Ole Miss is 217th in that stat. KenPom has MSU playing the 29th toughest schedule nationally -- the 27th toughest offenses and 36th toughest defenses. KenPom has Ole Miss as the 6th hardest schedule -- eighth in offense and defense.
Michigan State is 10-1 in its last 11 since a February 11 loss at home to Indiana. That loss was to Wisconsin, 77-74, in the Big Ten semifinals. From a common opponent look, MSU lost to Memphis, 71-63, in November and beat North Carolina, 94-91 in OT, in November. If you want to count it, MSU swept Illinois home and away -- 80-78 in East Lansing and 79-65 at Illinois. During this 10-1 streak, all but two the opponents are in the top 28 in KenPom -- 63 Iowa and 149 Bryant are the outliers.
The Ole Miss women face overall No. 1 seed UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen. The Bruins are 32-2 and finished second in the Big Ten with both losses to USC. UCLA beat South Carolina 77-62 and Arkansas, 101-52. Lauren Betts averages 19-7 a game from her center position.
Matt Riser is in his second season at the helm of the Memphis baseball program. In the 2024 season, Riser led the Tigers to a 23-32 (10-17 AAC) overall record. Memphis’ season ended with a 11-10 win over Wichita State to close out their 2024 campaign. The Tigers are 11-12 on the 2025 season and are 0-3 in AAC play. Memphis is coming off a 11-1 loss to East Carolina.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series over Memphis 102-57. Tuesday’s matchup will mark the 160th meeting between the two foes with the last being April 2, 2024 where the Tigers walked away with the 9-4 win over the Rebels.
The pitching matchup is lefty Gunnar Dennis (1-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. right-hander Caden Robinson (1-2, 6.88 ERA). Dennis has made six appearances and pitched six innings this season for the Rebels. His command was the calling card when he arrived last season, and he entered the rotation at one point. However, so far this year, Dennis has given up nine hits and seven walks to go with 10 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .333 off him in limited action. He finished last season with a 7.88 ERA in 40 innings.
Here are the SEC standings through two weekends. Florida and Texas A&M are off to 0-6 starts. I still believe in Florida somewhat, and that's Ole Miss' opponent this weekend. The Gators can be streaky and emotional under Kevin O'Sullivan, so best to take Friday and see if they will continue to implode. They are getting healthier and aren't a bad team. Texas A&M has had a year from hell.
Let's shift to basketball and talk Michigan State for a second. The Spartans (29-6) got the Sweet Sixteen with an 87-62 win over Bryant and a 71-63 win over New Mexico. MSU trailed by two at the half of the latter game. The Spartans are 25th nationally in offensive adjusted efficiency and fifth nationally in defensive adjusted efficiency. The defense is keyed by forcing bad shots. MSU is 11th nationally in opposing effective field goal percentage, and they are eighth in not allowing offensive rebounds as well as first in three-point defense -- which means something and is a touch lucky. Ole Miss has to get the extra pass and free up clean outside looks. That's problematic against Michigan State a lot of the time.
The Spartans don't force a lot of turnovers -- 7.8 percent of possessions which is 322nd nationally. They have one of the nation's deepest teams statistically, with 40.5 percent of the minutes played by players off the bench, 17th nationally. Comparatively, Ole Miss is 217th in that stat. KenPom has MSU playing the 29th toughest schedule nationally -- the 27th toughest offenses and 36th toughest defenses. KenPom has Ole Miss as the 6th hardest schedule -- eighth in offense and defense.
Michigan State is 10-1 in its last 11 since a February 11 loss at home to Indiana. That loss was to Wisconsin, 77-74, in the Big Ten semifinals. From a common opponent look, MSU lost to Memphis, 71-63, in November and beat North Carolina, 94-91 in OT, in November. If you want to count it, MSU swept Illinois home and away -- 80-78 in East Lansing and 79-65 at Illinois. During this 10-1 streak, all but two the opponents are in the top 28 in KenPom -- 63 Iowa and 149 Bryant are the outliers.
The Ole Miss women face overall No. 1 seed UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen. The Bruins are 32-2 and finished second in the Big Ten with both losses to USC. UCLA beat South Carolina 77-62 and Arkansas, 101-52. Lauren Betts averages 19-7 a game from her center position.
