Ole Miss Men’s Basketball went on a historic run in the SEC Tournament over spring break in Nashville, Tenn. They knocked off No. 10 Texas, No. 7 Georgia and No. 2 Alabama before an overtime semifinal loss to Arkansas.
The Rebels had many storylines throughout the tournament: they were the lowest seed ever to advance to a semifinal, they did not trail opponents in the first three games and they fueled their run with Halls Chophouse. However, it was the determination that the Rebels showed that will be remembered the most from this year’s SEC tournament.
Ole Miss entered the SEC tournament as No. 15 seed and with only four total SEC wins under their belt. Despite the adversity and difficulties from the season, they fell just short of a SEC Championship appearance.
Texas
The Rebels notched a 76-66 upset victory over the No. 10 Texas Longhorns in the first round of the SEC tournament on Wednesday, March 11.
The Ole Miss defense stepped up and held Texas scoreless for the first five minutes of the game. The Rebels’ improved hustle led to eight steals in the first half alone, which allowed them to build up and maintain a solid lead.
Another big three-point basket from Malik Dia and a coast-to-coast layup from AJ Storr brought the Rebel lead to 11 points and the Rebels halftime with a 41-30 lead over the Longhorns.
Out of the half, Texas controlled the pace of the game and consistently forced the Rebels to spend the shot clock waiting for a clear shot, and the Longhorns slowly chipped away at the deficit.
After a talk from head coach Chris Beard, the Rebels regained their composure and went on a 7-0 run with nine minutes left in the game. The Rebels held a 62-49 lead — their largest of the night.
All the Rebels had left to do was close, a feat they previously struggled with in the regular season, but thanks to a pair of slam dunks from Storr and James Scott, the Rebels kept the lead and the pressure on Texas.
The Longhorns responded well to that pressure and went on a 6-0 run in just 59 seconds to bring their deficit three, 66-63.
Both Scott and Ilias Kamardine emerged as the saviors for the Rebels in the final minutes. The duo grabbed rebounds, logged dunks and made key jumpers to save the Rebels from their tight situation. The Rebels secured the 76-66 upset victory over Texas.
The difference maker for the Rebels against Texas was their early lead. Ole Miss kept their cool and pressured Texas, who did not lead at any point.
In the postgame press conference, Beard emphasized that the team took a calm mentality in the huddles.
“In some of those last timeouts, we were literally just having a conversation,” Beard said. “(We were) telling the guys to breathe a little bit.”
With the win over Texas, the Rebels advanced to the second round to face Georgia. Coach Beard’s preparation was to not overcomplicate the game.
“We’re going to try to hydrate before we leave this building, we’re gonna get back and we’re gonna fuel (with) a good meal,” Beard said. “We will value rest more than basketball hours, practice and preparation. This plan has been good to us over the years and we’ll try to execute.”
Georgia
The Rebels survived a late push from the No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs on Thursday, March 12 and won 76-72 to advance to the quarterfinals.
The game looked identical to the round one matchup. The Rebels went up 5-0 early, but missed many extra opportunities created from offensive rebounds and went 2-for-10 from the field. Georgia was unable to benefit from the Rebel missed baskets.
After a media timeout, Georgia began intensive full court pressure and sped up the pace of the game to get within two points; however, the pace that the Bulldogs set proved to be too fast for even themselves and they began to make errors, including throwing the ball out of bounds.
The Rebels defense was the star of the first half. They forced four turnovers and Kamardine had three steals. With a buzzer-beater basket from Storr, the Rebels closed out the first half up 34-20.
Ole Miss opened the half with a 3-point basket from Travis Perry. Bulldog Somtochukwu Cyril elbowed Perry in the face a few minutes later and was ejected from the game. Perry went 1-for-2 on the awarded free throws.
After the ejection, not only was the crowd hyped up, but the players were, too. Dia had a hot streak for the Rebels and made two threes, a jumper and a layup. Kamardine fed off Dia’s energy and sank a 3-point basket of his own to bring the lead to 21, 53-32.
A Georgia timeout reset the game and the Bulldogs went on a 17-3 run over four minutes. With the Rebel lead cut to five points, Beard called a timeout with just over eight minutes to play.
Both teams alternated baskets and the Rebels held a slim 66-61 lead with three minutes to play. When baskets mattered the most in the final minutes of the game, the Bulldogs went 1-for-9 from the field and were forced to turn to the foul game.
Perry slammed the door shut on the Bulldogs and drained a pair of free throws with 0.3 seconds left. The Rebels got their second consecutive upset with a 76-72 victory.
Defense was the key to the first half, but the shared workload was what helped the Rebels seal the victory. Dia, Storr and Perry all ended the game in double figures.
“The mindset is to come out there and help find my team a way to win,” Perry said in the postgame presser. “You’re not always going to shoot the ball well, so (I’m) just trying to impact the game any way I can … being a little more nasty, a little more physical.”
With the win over the Bulldogs, the Rebels advanced to the quarterfinals to take on No. 2 Alabama. Beard shared that preparation for Alabama would differ from preparation for Georgia.
“I’m confident that we will show up and play,” Beard said. “We’d normally go back to the hotel to have that good meal, but tonight we’re going to go to Halls (Chophouse).”
Alabama
The Rebels took on the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday, March 13 and won 80-79 to become the lowest seed to ever advance to the SEC semifinals.
Dia opened the game with two 3-point baskets, but Alabama kept a hot pace and did not allow those points to go unanswered. Ole Miss held a 14-9 lead five minutes into the game.
The game picked up pace after a media break, and the Rebels turned to a consistent rotation of subs to give players a chance to rest. That strategy worked, and the Rebels made seven straight baskets to extend their lead and bring the score to 35-22.
After an Alabama dunk, the crowd fueled the Tide to a quick 6-0 run. At halftime, the Rebels led 47-41 thanks to three Rebels already in double digit figures: Dia, Storr and Patton Pinkins.
Out of the half, Alabama coach Nate Oats and his team were fired up after they disagreed with a personal foul call, but their energy did not last long and they went on a long drought. The Rebels filled the gap with a 7-0 run to make it 63-51.
With 10 minutes to play, the Rebels began to struggle. Dia airballed a shot, Storr stepped out on an inbound and the team racked up fouls and went 1-for-8 from the field. Still, Ole Miss held a 78-73 lead with two minutes to go.
With less than a second left, Alabama drove to the basket but the Rebels blocked the shot without committing a foul. The Tide’s half-court shot went awry and Ole Miss won 80-79 to advance to the semifinals.
After the game, Beard credited a large portion of the win to fearlessness from the players and the guts that they showed, especially Kamardine.
“Tonight, I saw a lot of courage … Ilias (Kamardine) got a good wide-open three and missed it. The next time down, he had the courage to take it again,” Beard said. “That will be something I’ll never forget about tonight’s game. A lesser player would have maybe turned down that second open look.”
Beard also sent a message to the fans.
“I know many of you haven’t followed our season other than the win-loss record, and I know that’s not easy to look at,” Beard said. “But we played some good basketball (tonight). We can play with anybody in this league.”
Arkansas
The Rebels fought hard but lost to No. 3 Arkansas 93-90 in overtime to end their underdog tournament run on Saturday, March 14.
Both teams got off to a hot start and the game alternated back-and-forth early. For the first time all tournament, the Rebels trailed after Arkansas held a 10-7 lead.
The score did not necessarily reflect how the Rebels looked on the court. Ole Miss struggled while Arkansas found luck in the paint. The Razorbacks jumped to a 21-12 lead over the Rebels.
At a break in the action, Beard subbed out a majority of the starters and had an intense conversation with them on the bench. On court, Giffa earned an and-one then the starters returned.
Beard’s pep talk seemed to help the Rebels and they went on a 4-for-5 run. With just under five minutes to play in the first half, Storr scored a breakaway layup and a big 3-point bucket to cut the Razorback lead to one, 29-28.
Arkansas did not quit, and went on a 6-0 run. The Rebels immediately responded, and in the final second, Pinkins drew a foul just before the buzzer and cashed in on all three free throws.
The Rebels closed the half down 37-36 and held the momentum after the Razorbacks did not score in the final two minutes of the first.
Back from the half, the close game continued. In the first 10 minutes alone, the lead changed 10 times.
With just under eight minutes to play, Arkansas opened up a small 64-58 lead thanks to back-to-back dunks from Malique Ewin. Meanwhile, the Rebels went cold and began to fall behind due to their inability to grab rebounds.
After three minutes with no field goals, Pinkins sank a much needed 3-pointer, and the Rebels began to clamor back. Perry hit a 3-pointer with 47.7 seconds left, and then Kamardine hit two free throws to get the Rebels within one.
Kamardine had to stop the clock and committed a foul, which was his fifth foul and forced him to exit the game with 5.8 seconds left.
Arkansas went 1-for-2 and then a layup from Storr tied the game at 79 to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, the Rebels got behind 87-83 with two-and-a-half minutes to play. Ole Miss got within one with a minute left.
Giffa committed a costly turnover after he stepped out of bounds with 27.3 seconds to play. Arkansas led 92-90 with just 1.6 seconds left and took a trip to the free throw line to go up 93-90.
The Rebels inbounded the ball to Perry who heaved up a shot from halfcourt, but it was no good. With the Rebels cinderella run over, Beard shared his thoughts about the tight contest.
“Our guys played with a lot of courage today. We played the game to win,” Beard said. “We did not lose this game today, we simply ran out of time.”
Beard summed up the Rebels’ tournament run after the game.
“This team never quit. We came down here to Nashville and played our best game,” Beard said. “We went through a lot of adversity this year. We got punched in the face over and over, but you guys never quit and kept fighting … much, much respect.”
