OXFORD, Miss. -- Sebastian Saiz and Stefan Moody both scored 21 points and Mississippi won the first game in its new arena by beating Alabama 74-66 on Thursday night.
Ole Miss (11-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) played in front of a sellout crowd of 9,500 at the $96.5 million arena called The Pavilion, which took about 18 months to build. It replaced the outdated Tad Smith Coliseum, where the Rebels had played for nearly 50 years.
Saiz added 16 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, and shot 8 of 13 from the field.