MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Moussa Cisse played for Ole Miss last season, leaving after his one campaign in Oxford to return to the school where he began his college career.

Cisse gave his most recent former team fits on Saturday at FedExForum, scoring 13 points to go with 11 rebounds and two blocked shots in Memphis’ 87-70 win.

The loss dropped Ole Miss to 11-2. Memphis, meanwhile, improved to 10-3, getting a huge Quadrant 1 home win as a late Christmas present.

Cisse entered the game averaging 5.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in just more than 18 minutes per outing.

“I knew he would be emotionally attached to this game,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “He was in our program last year. Just going down the line. Last time Memphis played at home, they lost to an SEC team (Mississippi State). It was very obvious from where I was sitting, they were emotionally attached to the game. We matched that part of the game for part of the game, segments of the game, but nowhere near the 40 minutes that were required today to play better.”

Cisse’s big day was just a symptom of Ole Miss’ main problem on Saturday. To the naked eye, it looked like Memphis dominated the paint.

The box score mutes that narrative a bit. Yes, Memphis won in the paint, but at least statistically, Ole Miss held its own. Memphis out-rebounded the Rebels, 45-34, won points in the paint, 38-30 and blocked nine shots (three more than Ole Miss’ six blocks).

However, Memphis got to the free throw line 31 times, making 22 shots from the stripe. Ole Miss was 15-for-21 from the free throw line.

“That was the game within the game, no doubt about it,” Beard said. “That’s a concern of mine. …Give them credit. They were the most aggressive team tonight for the majority of the game.”

Ole Miss committed 11 turnovers while forcing 13, but the Rebels have been using turnover disparity to compensate for its relative lack of post play.

Memphis won fast-break points, 21-11. Ole Miss won bench points, 25-17.

Memphis led by as many as 13 points in the first half before Ole Miss clawed its way out of that hole and trailed by just two points, 38-36, at halftime.

The Tigers jumped on Ole Miss in the opening minutes of the second half in very similar fashion to how they opened the game, using a 24-11 run to basically put the game away. The Rebels got as close as nine points with five minutes left, but the Tigers dominated from there, winning the final stretch, 11-3, to close things out.

“(I was) disappointed but not surprised,” Beard said. “My thinking is it’s a players’ game. We have to do a better job embracing each possession. We have some veteran guys who have played a long time and it’s like they think it’s just going to be OK, and when you’re playing a team like Memphis that — again, in my opinion — was emotionally attached to this game, you don’t have that margin for error.

“Certainly the start of the first half and the start of the second half was really the difference in the game.”

Colby Rogers led Memphis with 28 points. PJ Haggerty added 17 points and seven rebounds. Dain Dianja came off the Tigers’ bench to add 16 points.

Sean Pedulla led Ole Miss with 13 points. Jaylin Murray had 12 and Malik Dia had 11.

Ole Miss is off until next Saturday when the Rebels begin Southeastern Conference play versus Georgia. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. in Oxford. Georgia (11-1) plays South Carolina State Sunday in Athens.

Murrell, Brakefield struggle: Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell played 29 minutes Saturday and finished with a minus-25 plus-minus. Murrell scored just seven points on 3-for-11 shooting.

Jaemyn Brakefield, meanwhile, had two points and four rebounds in 12 minutes and finished with a plus-minus of minus-13.

“We have to coach better than we did tonight and play better than we did tonight, but certainly there are some individual performances on the stat sheet that we’re not going to be successful if four or five of our best players are not going to bring their A-game.”

Brown-Jones gets early shower: Ole Miss forward Mikeal Brown-Jones was ejected with 15:26 for a Flagrant-2 foul on a hit to Cisse. Cisse fell to the ground and writhed in apparent pain, forcing officials to review the play and subsequently make the ruling. Haggery hit both free throws, extending Memphis’ lead to 54-43.

“He was on his way to having a double-double tonight,” Beard said. “He was going to be a big focal point of our second-half gameplan and then he can’t play in the second half. That hurt us obviously.”

Big minutes for Klafke, Bol: Freshman Eduardo Klafke had six points, two blocked shots and a rebound in 18 minutes Saturday, likely earning some playing time down the road in the process.

Fellow freshman John Bol had four points and two rebounds in 12 minutes.

“Klafke played hard, energetic, played the game the right way,” Beard said. “He was aggressive on second-catch. He had a couple of freshman-type turnovers but I’m more than willing to live through those moments with him because he’s a talented player who impacts our team with his emotion and how hard he plays.”

Beard said Bol impressed playing against “two grown men.”

“Above all, I thought he competed, had a short-term memory,” Beard said. “He would make a mistake and come right back and have a positive impact in the game. That was a positive.”