The No. 6 seed Ole Miss Rebels (23-11, 10-8 SEC) survived and will advance to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament after defeating the No. 11 seed North Carolina Tar Heels (23-14, 13-7 ACC) 71-64, Friday afternoon at Fiserv Forum.
The victory marks the first tournament win for the Rebels since March 17, 2015.
Ole Miss started lights out from the floor jumping out to an early nine-point lead. Triples from Dre Davis, Jaylen Murray and Jaemyn Brakefield made it 11-2 Ole Miss, forcing a North Carolina timeout at the 16:45 mark.
The efficient shooting would continue for the Rebels, hitting 8-of-11 over the first eight minutes of action. Ole Miss got the ball inside to Malik Dia who generated a pair of quick baskets to make it 20-11, Ole Miss with 11:57 to play in the half.
Davis would continue to fill it up for the Rebels as he finished the half with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting with three triples. Ole Miss as a team made 11 of their first 15 shots and pushed the lead to 11 with 7:28 to play.
The long ball was alive and well for Ole Miss as the Rebels stretched the lead to 41-23, with 3:03 to play. Ole Miss hit seven of their first 10 three-point attempts to start.
The Rebel defense was stout over the first 20 minutes, holding UNC to just nine field goals and 26 points. Ole Miss would lead 44-26 at the break.
Ole Miss kept the lead at 20 as the game reached the under 16 media timeout of the second half. North Carolina would begin to chip away over the next 3:16 of play, cutting the Ole Miss lead to 59-45, with 11:35 to play in regulation.
The Tar Heels would continue to fight as they reached the under eight media with Ole Miss leading 63-50 with 7:36 left.
North Carolina would go on a 9-0 run over 2:59 of play to trim the deficit to 63-57, with 5:40 to play, before RJ Davis would convert a layup and draw the foul to make it 66-64, Ole Miss, with 1:09 left.
Sean Pedulla would hit a massive three with 52.8 seconds on the clock, making it 69-64 Rebels. The Rebel defense buckled down the final minute of play and Pedulla put things on ice to put Ole Miss up 71-64 with 34 seconds remaining.
Peudlla led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added five assists. Davis led Ole Miss on the glass with eight rebounds.
Ole Miss (23-11, 10-8 SEC) will matchup with the No. 3 seed Iowa State Cyclones (25-9, 13-7 Big 12). Tipoff is set for Sunday, March 23 with the tipoff time yet to be announced.
NOTABLES
- The victory marks the first NCAA tournament win for Ole Miss since March 17, 2015 against No. 11 seed BYU. The Rebels came away with a 94-90 win in Dayton, Ohio.
- With the win, Ole Miss advances to the round of 32 for just the fourth time in program history: 1999, 2001, 2013 and 2025.
- Sean Pedulla now has 26 double figure scoring games on the season and seven 20 plus point performances.
- Ole Miss is now 10-0 this season and 19-1 under head coach Chris Beard when out-rebounding their opponent.
