Ole Miss has not yet sung its swan song, as the Rebels found a little postseason magic in the opening round of the SEC Tournament with a 76-66 win over Texas on Wednesday night.
The Rebels (13-19) entered the tournament as the No. 15 seed following an underwhelming regular-season campaign. But that did not cause the red and blue to mail things in. Instead, Chris Beard’s group led an aggressive effort defensively while playing clean on the other end of the floor, and it paid off. Ole Miss forced 13 turnovers while only giving the ball away three times.
“Turnovers, we kept them down to three. That was the key to the game. We took care of the ball and forced a lot of turnovers,” star Ole Miss forward Malik Dia told the SEC Network after the game. “I didn’t want this to be my last game. I’m from the city of Nashville. This team means a lot to me. I just don’t want it to be done. I ain’t ready yet.”
Dia had a game-best 23 points for the Rebels. His big outing was complemented by an 18-point outing by AJ Storr and a 16-point performance by Ilias Kamardine, along with a rare 10-point effort by James Scott. Dia, Storr, and Kamardine were a combined 50% from the floor, while Scott was a perfect 5-5 on shots he took.
Texas (18-14) was the tournament’s No. 10 seed and could potentially miss out on a bid to the Big Dance after the loss to Ole Miss. In Wednesday’s matchup, the Longhorns were led by Dailyn Swain and Jordan Pope. Swain logged 22 points, 13 of which came from the free-throw line, while Pope had 16 points, 12 of which were the product of 3-point makes.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first half. Texas did not connect on a shot in the first 5:05 of action. The Rebels, capitalizing on Longhorn turnovers, stepped on the gas pedal, going up 22-10 with 9:52 on the clock. Texas, leaning on free shots and a strong showing by Swain, stormed back, cutting the deficit to five points at the 4:54 mark. Dia hit a step-back jumper to rebut but soon exited the contest with a right elbow injury following a violent fall to the floor.
The Ole Miss big man checked back into the game with just under three minutes left until the intermission and had a near-immediate impact, hitting a 3-pointer to put his team up nine points. Dia capped the half’s scoring with a fastbreak layup off a Patton Pinkins steal. Ole Miss led 41-30 at the break after having recorded 12 combined blocks and steals.
Sean Miller’s halftime speech seemingly ignited an offensive spark as Texas knocked down back-to-back triples right out of the gate, reducing Ole Miss’ scoreboard advantage to five points. A three-point play by Dia rebuilt the buffer, but the Longhorns continued to threaten. That was the case until Texas went on a seven-plus-minute field goal drought. Ole Miss went up by as many as 12 points while its higher-seeded counterpart struggled to hit a shot.
Texas, however, found supplemental scoring at the charity stripe and benefited from Dia drawing his fourth foul near the nine-minute mark. The Longhorns scored seven points off free shots during the field goal moratorium. Swain ended the hiatus with a layup at the 5:19 mark, cutting his team’s deficit to seven points. In response, Kamardine shook two Longhorn defenders down low and dished the ball to Scott for an uncontested dunk.
Things took a rapid turn southbound for the Rebels after that. In less than a minute, a nine-point lead had been whittled down to three points, with a Pope 3-pointer capping a 6-0 Texas run with 3:37 remaining in regulation. Ole Miss, notorious for blowing leads down the stretch and losing tight ballgames, did not play to the status quo.
A Kamardine steal turned into a successful lob to Scott to end Texas’ run. A second-chance bucket down low by Scott following a Longhorn miss helped keep the momentum pendulum shifting in the Rebels’ favor. A Kamardine steal-and-score found Ole Miss up 72-63 with 1:25 left in the game, and the red and blue lived to see another day.
On top of turnovers, the glaring difference between the two teams on the stat sheet was points in the paint. Ole Miss outscored Texas 50-18 down low. The Rebels also won the bench scoring battle 24-5. 3-point shooting kept the Longhorns in the game. Texas had 21 points from behind the arc, whereas Dia’s triple late in the first half was the only deep shot Ole Miss made, despite attempting 10.
With the win, Ole Miss will advance in the SEC Tournament and face No. 7 seed Georgia on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT. The game will air on the SEC Network and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations. The two teams last squared off on Jan. 14, and the Rebels took home a 97-95 victory in what was an overtime thriller.