Rebels put together complete game to advance to Thursday

NASHVILLE— For no less than one night time, Ole Miss followers obtained an opportunity to see what Chris Beard envisioned final spring when he put this staff together.

Malik Dia dominated on the offensive finish, scoring 23 factors on 9-for-18 capturing.

Ilias Kamardine had an attractive ground game, scoring 16 factors whereas including six rebounds and three assists versus only one turnover.

AJ Storr obtained buckets when the Rebels wanted them and completed with 18 factors.

James Scott, one of many Rebels’ most costly acquisitions, was dominant on the rim, scoring 10 factors to go along with 9 rebounds, three blocked pictures and a steal.

Eduardo Klafke performed his position brilliantly, hustling his method to 4 factors and 4 rebounds.

The consequence: A 76-66 win over a Texas staff preventing for a spot within the NCAA Tournament and a spot in Thursday’s second spherical versus seventh-seeded Georgia.

“I’m trying not to think that way right now,” Beard mentioned. “But obviously, what could have been. But 99.9 percent of my focus right now is we have a chance to play tomorrow. Your question is valid. Tonight it seemed like we had a good rotation. Every player who played for us had a positive contribution to the game. Give the players all the credit. I thought tonight was one of our best team efforts, obviously against a good opponent, a team that’s going to play next week.”

Ole Miss (13-19) managed a lot of the game from the tip, withstood a late Texas rally that pulled the Longhorns inside three after which dominated the ultimate minutes to end off the upset and maintain its season alive for no less than 24 extra hours.

“It was just players making plays,” Storr mentioned. “I think Ilias made some plays down the line. James got a big alley-oop. I got downhill a couple of times. That’s really what it was, players making plays down the stretch.”

The winner of Thursday’s game between the Rebels and Georgia will face second-seeded Alabama Friday at 6 pm

“For our guys, it’s Captain Obvious,” Beard mentioned. “In a season filled with a lot of adversity and didn’t get a lot of breaks or create a lot of breaks, for these guys to be playing this hard and this connected, not only today in the SEC Tournament but really in the last couple of weeks of the season, I think it’s a sign of their character and the way they were raised. I’m just super appreciative of our players continuing to fight. I thought today was a great example of how our team can play when we play well.”

“We’re just looking at one game at at time,” Storr mentioned. “That’s all you really have to do. …I’m glad we’re still alive. That could’ve been the last game of my college career. Now we have to win the next one.”

Texas fell to 18-14 and can now have to sweat it out till Sunday to be taught its destiny. The Longhorns’ resume and metrics will seemingly land them in a spot within the 68-team area.

Daily Swain led Texas with 22 factors, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Jordan Pope added 16 factors.

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Ole Miss dedicated simply three turnovers Wednesday whereas forcing 13 from Texas. The Rebels recorded 12 steals, and 6 blocked pictures whereas mainly enjoying even on the boards. Texas had 35 rebounds, yet another than Ole Miss’ 34.

All of that allowed the Rebels to overcome a 1-for-10 capturing night time from behind the 3-point line.

“Everybody was on the same page,” Scott mentioned. “I was just trying to protect the rim and the guards were doing a good job of sending them to me.”

Ole Miss had a robust first half, constructing a 12-point lead earlier than heading to intermission up, 41-30.

Dia was terrific, scoring 17 factors and including two rebounds and a steal. The Rebels had seven steals in all, whereas committing simply two turnovers. The Longhorns stayed within the game with six offensive rebounds that led to 9 second-chance factors. Ole Miss dominated the paint, nevertheless, scoring 20 factors in contrast to Texas’ 10. The Rebels scored 9 factors off Texas’ turnovers within the opening 20 minutes.

Texas did not rating for the primary 5:04 whereas Ole Miss scored the game’s first 5 factors.

Ole Miss defeated Georgia, 97-95, on Jan. 16 in Athens, successful on Patton Pinkins’ floater with one second left.

“We’re still alive,” Beard mentioned. “We didn’t come here to Nashville to win one game. We came here to win one game at a time. We still have some belief in our locker room that we can make a run here.

“Despite what folks may assume and our win-loss report is difficult to have a look at, however we are literally having a whole lot of enjoyable,” Beard said. “We don’t need the season to finish. We need yet another observe. We need yet another movie session. We need yet another meal together. …I feel in a few of these final timeouts, we had been actually simply having a dialog, simply telling the fellows to breathe somewhat bit. We all agreed on the ball-screen protection, however there was somewhat little bit of calmness and somewhat little bit of focus.

“We didn’t want to leave Nashville tonight. We wanted to live for one more day together.”

Notes:

— Texas’ Matas Vokietaitis scored 27 factors final month within the Longhorns’ win over Ole Miss. On Wednesday night time, Ole Miss was bodily with him, obtained him into foul hassle and restricted him to 10 factors and 6 rebounds.

“We were just trying to make it hard for him around the rim,” Storr mentioned. “He’s 7-foot, so we were sending multiple people at him and trying to get him in foul trouble.”

“I thought the guys did a great job executing a multi-layered game plan,” Beard mentioned. “It was a little bit of fortune on our side getting him in foul trouble and keeping his minutes short of where they usually are.”

— Beard mentioned he and his employees would focus instantly on the Rebels’ hydration after which eat a “good meal,” adopted by a few hours off their ft earlier than turning their consideration to Georgia.

“We’ll value rest more than basketball hours, practice and preparation,” Beard mentioned. “This plan has been good to us over the years and we’ll try to execute it tonight.”

— Dia had a pair of laborious falls throughout Wednesday’s game however he repeatedly returned to the lineup.

“He’s fine,” Beard mentioned.

— Oklahoma City Thunder govt vice-president/basic supervisor Sam Presti and Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens had been in attendance Wednesday, presumably scouting Swain.

ESPN lately mocked Swain No. 29 general to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Oklahoma City has two first-round picks — ESPN tasks them to decide Nos. 15 and 16 — and Boston has one, presently projected at No. 26, in June’s NBA Draft.

— Ole Miss soccer coach Pete Golding was sitting courtside for Wednesday’s game. His agent, Jimmy Sexton, was additionally in attendance at Bridgestone.