Memphis suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday night on the road against Ole Miss. The Tigers struggled to slow down the Rebels’ shooting, but there were still some bright spots from Penny Hardaway’s team.

Despite only leading the game for 4:26, Memphis found ways to keep Ole Miss at arm’s reach and gave themselves an opportunity towards the end of the game.

Chris Beard’s team got going early and finished the game shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from three. Four of the five starters finished in double-figures, and Ilia Kamardine led the team with 26 points, connecting on 78.5 percent of his attempts.

On the other side, Memphis shot 46.7 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep. The Tigers won the rebounding battle 33-to-32, and they outscored the Rebels 30-22 in the paint.

Here are the top performers from Tuesday night’s loss:

Ashton Hardaway

After starting in both exhibition games, Ashton Hardaway has come off the bench in both games of the regular season. He showed flashes of his shot-making ability in the opener against San Francisco, but Tuesday night he provided a much larger spark off the bench.

Hardaway finished the game with 16 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal in 24 minutes of action. Hardaway shot an efficient 7-for-11 form the field, but he struggled to knock down three pointers and finished 1-for-4 from behind the arc.

Despite the three-point struggles, Hardaway found a way to play an impactful role for the Tigers, and he could develop into a nice option for coach Hardaway off the bench.

Curtis Givens III

Curtis Givens struggled to made shots in the first game of the year, shooting 1-for-5 from the field, but he found a lot of success Tuesday night. 

Givens ended the game with 20 points, but it started with a shaky first half. The sophomore went 2-for-7 from the field in 13 minutes before the half, but he responded with 15 points, shooting 71.4 percent from the field in the second half.

Givens led the team in scoring and added two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 31 minutes. Givens shot 50 percent from the field on 14 attempts, and seven of his points came in the final three minutes of the game when the Tigers started closing in on the Ole Miss lead. 

While he shot the ball well, the Memphis native went 3-for-7 from three, and he’s now shooting 33.3 percent from deep through two games. The Tigers will rely on Givens to provide a lot of offensive production, and if he can find some consistency from deep, he could play a massive role for the team moving forward.

Dug McDaniel

When Dug McDaniel committed to Memphis, it looked like the Tigers secured another talented lead guard that would be the focal point of the offense. McDaniel has played well through two games, and he’s currently leading the team in points, assists and steals.

McDaniel finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and a steal, but he shot 35 percent from the field. While he’s leading the team in multiple categories, McDaniel ranks seventh on the team in field-goal percentage. 

McDaniel did more than just score the basketball Tuesday night. The 5-foot-11 guard led the team in rebounding, and he did a nice job facilitating the offense against an Ole Miss team that ranks right outside the top 30 in adjusted defensive efficiency.