Mississippi @ Rice preview

Ole Miss approached its journey to Las Vegas for the MGM Resorts Main Event Tournament as a "business trip." The Rebels, who lost to Utah 83-74 in Monday night's semifinals, will try to leave Sin City with at least a split when they face Rice in the consolation championship Wednesday night.

"We're treating Vegas as a business trip," Ole Miss guard Terence Davis told the Oxford Eagle before Monday's loss. "Going in there to become relevant this week. That's how we're taking it." The proof will be in the pudding as the Rebels will have had a day off to see the sights before facing the Owls, who were blown out by UNLV 95-68 in the other semifinal. After Wednesday night, the Rebels return home to play seven of their next eight games at home with the only trip to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to take on Middle Tennessee, a trip that figures a lot fewer distractions than Vegas. "There's a lot of distractions in Las Vegas I've been told," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "One of the things we've really got to do is work on our focus, and this is a great opportunity to do that."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT RICE (1-3): The Owls, who finished 23-12 last season, have sputtered out of the gate, losing to the likes of Eastern Kentucky (73-72) and Georgia State (75-54) at home with their only win at Northwestern State (87-65). Junior guard Connor Cashaw (16.3 points per game) leads the team in scoring and rebounding (7.3). Senior guard A.J. Lapray (11.8 point), a graduate transfer from Pepperdine who had a team-high 15 points and three 3-pointers in the loss to UNLV, and sophomore guard Ako Adams (11.5 points) also are averaging in double figures.

ABOUT OLE MISS (3-1): Davis (17.8) leads the team in scoring and has connected on 11-of-28 3-pointers (39.3 percent). Guard Deandre Burnett, like Davis a preseason second team All-SEC selection by the media, is second in scoring (15.5) and scored a team-high 21 points and went 5-of-6 from beyond the arc in Monday's loss to Utah. Freshman guard Devontae Shuler (10.5) also is averaging in double digits and had nine points and four steals in just 17 minutes off the bench against the Utes.

TIP-INS

1. Ole Miss leads the SEC in steals with 33.

2. G Markel Crawford, a graduate transfer from Memphis, has started all four games for the Rebels and leads the team in minutes per game (29.5), steals (9) and assists (11) while also averaging 9.5 points per game.

3. The is the 100th meeting against a Southeastern Conference team in school history for Rice. The Owls are 48-51 all-time against the SEC.

PREDICTION: Ole Miss 86, Rice 68