By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Coach Kermit Davis’ squad learned on Sunday they are one of 68 teams taking part in the NCAA Tournament.
Ole Miss will travel to Columbia, South Carolina as the No. 8 seed to face the No. 9 seed Oklahoma Sooners on Friday. Tip-off is set for 11:40 a.m. CT on truTV.
“We’re going to play an unbelievably well-coached basketball team,” Ole Miss Head Coach Kermit Davis said. “Lon Kruger’s teams have been there a lot of times. Oklahoma will be just like a really good SEC team that we will play.”
Coach Davis came into the season to turn a team around that finished last in the SEC in 2018 and lost 11 of its last 12 games.
“I’m so happy for TD (Terence Davis), D.C. (Davis) and Bruce (Stevens) as seniors. Also, Breein (Tyree), Devontae (Shuler) and Dominik (Olejniczak), those guys that came back,” Davis said about the NCAA tournament bid.
Coming into the day, Coach Davis said he felt like his team would make it to the tournament because they were not mentioned as a “bubble team.”
“I felt that we were safely in, and I did think (we would be) a No. 8 or 9 seed,” Davis said.
Ole Miss and Oklahoma are no strangers on the hardwood. In their three meetings with the Sooners, the Rebels came away with two wins between 1999-2001.
Ole Miss is led this season by all-SEC guards Breein Tyree and Terence Davis, who said they were thankful for Davis and the fans for helping them make the tournament.
“They told me, ‘Thank you,’ and I said, ‘No, it’s a big thank you back,'” Davis said. “So that makes you feel good that you were a part of an experience (of making the NCAA Tournament) with those two guys that have been working really hard. (They) really love Ole Miss.”
The Rebels will open their March Madness run on Friday morning on truTV.
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