After overcoming a 17-point halftime deficit to pick up the 94-90 win against BYU Tuesday night, Ole Miss moves into the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament.
The Ole Miss Rebels came out of the locker room at halftime and put up a total of 62 points in the second half against the Cougars. Ole Miss was led in scoring by junior Stefan Moody with 26 points, while his teammate senior M.J. Rhett added 20 of his own.
Coach Andy Kennedy’s squad had a total of six players in double figures in scoring as Sebastian Saiz, Martavius Newby, Jarvis Summers and LaDarius White reached the double digit plateau along with Moody and Rhett.
The Rebels now have to do a quick turn-around and focus their attention on the No. 6 seed Xavier Musketeers.
Xavier enters the NCAA Tournament with a 21-13 record on the season. Senior Matt Stainbrook leads his team in scoring with 12 points a game and pulling down 6.8 boards a contest. Two other teammates of his average double figure scoring in Trevon Bluiett and Myles Davis respectively scoring 11.7 and 10.7 a game.
As a squad, the Musketeers are shooting 47 precent from the field this season, but allow opponents to shoot a slightly lower 44 percent.
The Rebels have never met Xavier on the hardwood, but Ole Miss is 5-3 all time against current teams in the Big East conference. Although both teams have faced six common opponents this season in Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, Creighton, Missouri and Northern Arizona. Ole Miss is prefect 6-0 against them, while Xavier was 5-2 with losses to Auburn and Creighton.
Tipoff is set for 3:10 p.m. CST in Jacksonville and will be shown on TBS or can be heard on the Ole Miss Radio Network or Sirius Satellite Radio on channel 93, or XM 203.
Adam Brown is HottyToddy.com sports editor and can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
