Don’t count them out just yet.
Ole Miss completed a season sweep against No. 24 Missouri in an ugly 60-53 Tuesday night to stay in the NCAA Tournament discussion. The Tigers have had no issue knocking big-name tournament contenders out of the questions, but something about the Rebels they just can not shake.
The Tuesday night win follows an Ole Miss loss to Mississippi State on Saturday and the Rebels were determined to get back on their feet to defeat the Tigers for a second time this season. The first match-up between the two resulted in an 80-59 blowout by the Rebels earlier this month.
How It Happened
After trailing by 11 points in the second half, the Rebels’ dominated their way to an 11-0 run to take the lead with less than six minutes to go in the games’ final moments.
The Vols began to struggle as the team went 12:27 without making a field goal in the second half. Tennessee failed to get any shots to fall from the floor starting at the 13:09 mark in the game, all the way until 40.9 seconds remained on the game clock.
Missed opportunities cost the Volunteers as players missed one of two free throws with three seconds left that could have tied the score even at 51 apiece. However, with Ole Miss only converting one of their two free throws on the following possession, the Rebels’ allowed Tennessee one final shot at the buzzer.