Calkins: Memphis smashes Ole Miss to wind up 2024. (And 2025 could be fun).
Memphis Tigers forward Dain Dainja (42) and center Moussa Cisse (32) celebrate during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at FedExForum on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Wes Hale/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
When did you know this game was going to be the beatdown that the Memphis Tigers and their fans so badly needed?
Was it when Moussa Cisse opened matters by taking an alley-oop from PJ Haggerty, throwing it down and then following that up with a flex?
Was it shortly after, when Colby Rogers — coming off a week when he went 0-12 from deep — calmly drained his first 3-pointer of the game?
Was it when Tyrese Hunter tracked down an unsuspecting Ole Miss player and simply ripped the ball from his arms?
Was it when Cisse stepped to the foul line and — I swear this happened — dropped in both his shots?
Or maybe it wasn’t until the very end, after Ole Miss hit a couple shots to cut into the lead, and Rogers ended any suspense with his sixth 3-pointer of the night?
The Memphis crowd rose in raucous celebration. What a way to end the team’s triumphant march through its nonconference schedule.
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