No. 15 seed Ole Miss will look to extend its run through the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday night against the highest-rated opponent it has faced so far, No. 15-ranked and second-seeded Alabama.
The Rebels (14-19) enter the quarterfinals in Nashville after a second straight wire-to-wire upset, the latest a 76-72 victory Thursday over No. 7 seed Georgia in which they squandered all but two points of a 23-point second-half lead but held on.
“We set this up as a four-team tournament,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said Thursday. “We’ll get back, get recovered as best we can, then tomorrow we’ll start the next four-team tournament.
“What we want to do is just make sure we don’t have any regrets. No different than when we play in the NCAA Tournament. Our NCAA Tournament just came a week early.”
Ole Miss, which lost 12 of 13 games to close the regular season, never trailed in a 76-66 victory over Texas in the first round Wednesday. The Rebels held 10th-seeded Texas to 35.2% shooting from the field. Georgia shot 36.4% on Thursday.
The Bulldogs were averaging 90.4 points per game.
“We played probably 3 1/2 halves of the best defense we played all year long,” Beard said.
Alabama will present its own set of challenges for the Ole Miss defense.
The Crimson Tide are averaging a Division I-high 92.1 points per game and they have won nine of 10 games since losing 100-77 to current SEC tournament top seed Florida in Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 1.
Alabama, which is projected as a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, has played the most difficult schedule in Division I, according to KenPom. The only way Ole Miss will make the NCAA field of 68 is by winning the SEC tournament.
The Crimson Tide had a double-bye into the quarterfinals, which brings with it different issues, coach Nate Oats said.
“Having the first bye is tough enough,” Oats said. “The challenge of that is making sure you are well-rested without losing conditioning. You have to play to be sharp.”
The Crimson Tide are led by guards Labaron Philon Jr. (21.5 points, 4.8 assists per game) and Aden Holloway (16.8 points, 3.9 assists).
Philon was named to the five-man All-SEC first team, and Holloway made the third team. Forward Amari Allen (11.9 points, 7.0 rebounds) was named to the All-Freshman team.
“We’ve got a lot of guys playing their best basketball at the right time,” Oats said.
AJ Storr came off the bench to lead the Rebels with 19 points against Georgia. Malik Dia added 17 and Tyler Perry 16 on Thursday, when Ole Miss built a 55-32 lead with 13 minutes remaining. Ilias Kamardine had eight points, four assists and four steals.
Storr has 37 points in the two tournament games.
“Throughout the season we’ve been in that situation a good amount,” Dia said of playing in close games down the stretch. “I feel like we’re finally starting to break through in these clutch moments.
“As far as Selection Sunday, this team’s fighting each and every game. We just don’t want our season to end. We want to be in the Big Dance.”
