Ole Miss players kneel during anthem before Georgia game

Eight Ole Miss men's basketball players knelt during the national anthem Saturday afternoon in response to a Confederacy rally near the arena.

Minutes before the Rebels’ game against Georgia, both teams formed lines for the anthem. As soon as "The Star-Spangled Banner" began, six players from the Rebels took a knee and bowed. Toward the end of the anthem, two teammates joined them.

The Confederacy demonstration was led by out-of-state protesters a few hundred feet from the arena.

In the aftermath of violence at a similar rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the Oxford community has been on alert.

Various student groups held counter-protests on campus Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, one began on the city square and ended at the Confederate monument in the heart of the Ole Miss campus.

About the Author

The Associated Press

Kirby Smart: LSU coaches ‘borrow’ offices, adds context to Brian Kelly firing

Georgia coach Kirby Smart understands the pressure at LSU, and how that combined with playoff expectations led to Brian Kelly being fired despite a .708 win percentage.

Price of parity: Brian Kelly firing is latest midseason SEC coaching move

LSU coach Brian Kelly was fired Sunday despite winning at better than a 70% clip in his 3.5 seasons in Baton Rouge.

Kirby Smart not worried about Vanderbilt ‘propaganda’ and Jared Curtis

Georgia football currently has the No. 2-ranked recruiting class, with 5-star quarterback Jared Curtis being the highest-rated commitment.

The Latest

Credit: AP

Kirby Smart: LSU coaches ‘borrow’ offices, adds context to Brian Kelly firing

Kirby Smart not worried about Vanderbilt ‘propaganda’ and Jared Curtis

Price of parity: Brian Kelly firing is latest midseason SEC coaching move

Featured

Credit: Photo by Austin Kaseman

Gilded Age tycoons built Jekyll’s doomed golf course. It’s been resurrected.

Jekyll Island's historic golf course, Great Dunes, was designed by Walter Travis in the Gilded Age. It reopens Nov. 1 on Georgia's coast after a painstaking restoration.

Embattled Fulton judge sued over woman’s ‘illegal’ jailing

While facing possible removal from the bench, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shermela Williams has been sued by a young woman she jailed during a divorce hearing.

KEN SUGIURA

A miserable loss leaves even less reason to believe in Falcons, Morris

Falcons coach Raheem Morris was accountable for the team's failures after a 34-10 loss to Miami, but that isn't enough if this team wants to make the postseason.