11 Seed North Carolina Advanced To First Round Of NCAA Tournament To Oppose 6 Seed Ole Miss Friday Following Routing 11 Seed San Diego State 95 -68 In First Four Tuesday Night In Dayton

11 North Carolina advanced to first round of NCAA Tournament to oppose 6th seed Ole Miss Friday following routing 11 seed San Diego State 95-68 in first four Tuesday night in Dayton.

As 11 seed North advanced to first round of NCAA Tournament to oppose to 6 seed Ole Miss Friday following routing 11 seed San Diego State as a team North Carolina shot 52.6 % on field goals , 58.3 % of free throws , 87.5 % on free throws. Three players scored in double figures Vin-Allen Lupin was 2-3 on field goals , 8-8 on free throws to go along with 3 rebounds , 12 points . Jaylen Withers was 3-6 on field goals , 2-4 on 3 pointers , 2-2 on free throws to go along with 10 rebounds , 1 assists , 10 points. RJ Davis was 8-12 on field goals , 6-6 on free throws , 4-5 on free throws to go along 2 assists, 26 points . Seth Trimble was 5-10 on field goals , 0-2 on 3 pointers to go along with 3 rebounds, 16 points.

According to espn app

Following 11 seed North Carolina advancing to first round of NCAA Tournament to oppose 6 seed Ole Miss following routing 11 seed San Diego State 95-68 North Carolina guard Ian Jackson who was 3-9 on field goals , 3-6 on 3 pointers to go along with 1 rebound, 9 points had this to say about his teammate RJ Davis who was was 8-12 on field goals , 6-6 on free throws , 4-5 on free throws to go along 2 assists, 26 points!

That’s RJ he’s seen every level in college . He’s seen the high’s the lows . He knows what it takes to win at this level . This time of year , him going out there and being able to put on a performance especially in this kind of setting in the first four is huge for us.

According to Luke Decock News & Observer article https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/unc/article302295829.html

North Carolina is now going to oppose Ole Miss in the first round of NCAA Tournament who lost to Auburn in the quarterfinals of Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday March 14, 2025 62-57. As Ole Miss lost in the quarterfinals of Southeastern Conference Tournament as a team Ole Miss shot 37.7 % on field goals , 17.4 % on 3 pointers , 76.5 % on free throws Four players scored in double figures! Malik Dia was 3-11 on field goals , 1-3 on 3 pointers , 3-4 on free throws to go along 7 rebounds , 1 assists, 3 steals , 10 points. Sean Pedulla was 6-13 on field goals , 0-5 on 3 pointers to go along with 1 rebound , 12 points. . Dre Davis was 5-8 on field goals , 1-3 on 3 pointers , 1-3 on free throws to go along 6 rebounds, 2 assists , 12 points. Jaylen Murray was 3-10 on field goals , 0-4 on 3 pointers , 4-4 on free throws to go along 2 rebounds, 5 steals , 10 points.

Following Ole Miss 63-57 loss to Auburn Friday in Southeastern Conference Tournament Ole Miss Head Chris Beard had this to say for his opening statement had this to say Auburn forward Johni Broome on the difference in the third match up with Auburn!

Good, hard-fought game. Congratulate Auburn on a victory. Defensive game. Easy baskets were hard to find throughout the game. If we hold Auburn to 62 points, we should have a chance to win the game, and we did. Thought we played some good defense today.

They’re the SEC champs. Projected 1 seed. You guys just saw it. What does that make Ole Miss? We can play with these teams. Disappointed locker room right now because we expected to win this game.I didn’t think we got beat, though. Like I told the guys, sometimes you win, sometimes you run out of time. I really felt like a little bit more time on the clock. We liked where we were. Congratulate Auburn.

A defensive, tough game. Lastly, basketball is about making shots. Today was a game we needed to make nine or 10 threes. Mathematically, how the game was set up. For us to shoot 17% from three-point line. Most of those were good looks.

Couple shots, one more rebound, we win the game. Congratulations to Auburn. We wish them the best of luck here in Nashville and in the NCAA tournament.

ON AUBURN STAR JOHNI BROOME

Beard: He was the difference in the game. In a one-possession game he goes 23-15. I think he’s worthy of all the attention and awards he’s winning. You saw it today all the way down to the last play.

Shot clock differential was just enough. We got a coach’s decision do we try to get one stop, we’re going to have about 10 seconds with the basketball, coming down with a broken floor, or do we extend the game by fouling.

Defense got better in the last seven or eight minutes of the game. We made the decision, players believed in it. What does Auburn do? Veteran team, well-coached, they get the ball to the right player in the right spot, and he made a tough shot. Not a tough shot, but he made a contested shot.

The question was about Broome. 23-15 on the biggest stage before the tournament. Last play his team has to make a play, and he’s the one that does it.

ON THE DIFFERENCE IN THE THIRD MATCHUP WITH AUBURN

Beard: The first two games, Ole Miss-Auburn, were a bit surprising. We scored the ball at a rate well enough for win the game, didn’t defend enough.

Oxford we played really well. Auburn, I thought it was their A-plus game. Coach Pearl even mentioned that after the game. Today’s game was defensive, tough.

Again, it’s not slighting Auburn at all. When we go 4-21 from the three-point line, and most of those were good shots, a couple late shot clock kind of forced. I would say 17 of the 21 were probably shots that you have to take and you have to make to beat Auburn.

If we make our normal 35%, 36% threes as a team, we score enough points to win.

ON WHEN HE REALIZED OLE MISS WAS GOOD

Beard: That’s a good question. Of course, in recruiting when you put the team together, you have high expectations ’cause you see them playing in front of you. But when it gets real, it’s probably when competition starts. We had a really good summer. We set up our summer a little bit different than the past with new teams, portal, new players. You can’t just spend your whole summer working drills, shell drill. You have to get out there and play a little bit.

We had multiple inner-squad scrimmages with officials. About halfway through the summer, we started visualizing how this could be a good team. Certainly your non-conference, early win against Colorado State, who I think is an NCAA tournament team, our MTE put us against BYU, a really good team in the Big 12. We lost in overtime to a Purdue team that’s still alive today, I believe, in the Big Ten tournament.

I think the combination of putting together a good team with recruiting and roster management, watching those guys begin the gelling process in the summer, and then some success in the non-conference, I’m not going to say it raised our expectations, but it validated — what is that word? — verified what we thought the team could be.

ON HIS MESSAGE TO THE TEAM HEADING INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Beard: Yeah, so the message immediately after the game today, again a hurt locker room because we expected to win this game, was that I didn’t think we got beat today. I think we ran out of time. We could have put two more minutes up there and play a little bit more.

I thought the effort was good today. But when you play a team like this, you have to play well in almost every area. We took care of the ball, especially in the second half. We played good enough defense for the most part. Got to do a little bit better job on the backboards. We got to make some shots. 4-21.

The message for the team moving forward is we’ve always had kind of the same model in March. Two things, really simple. We tell the players we want to be us. Why? Because us is pretty good. We’re one of the best teams in the country. We’re going to get a nice seed, at-large bid in the tournament. Let’s not show up to the NCAA tournament and be somebody we’re not. Let’s be the best version of us.

“Secondly, we want to have some fun along the way.”

Yeah, it’s a business trip, no doubt about it. Man, you work your whole life in coaching and playing to play in the NCAA tournament, so let’s don’t forget that. Let’s enjoy every practice, shoot-around, bus trip, the camaraderie, the hotels, the meals. You know this, man, the meals in the NCAA tournament are really, really good. Nobody even skips the salad portion of the meals because the salad looks like you’re at one of those Brazilian steakhouses.

We’re going to get some gear and enjoy ourselves. We’re going to smell the roses, as we call it. That’s always been our plan in March. Sounds simple, but to me that’s the way to do it. Be the best version of yourself, be us, smell the roses along the way, play with fun, enjoy.

Our timeouts, we got guys smiling with joy. We got a chance, let’s go try to win this game. That’s always been our message in March and will be this week, as well.

Waiting is the hardest part for Ole Miss as it still does not know its NCAA Tournament opponent

by:Jake Thompson•about 18 hours•

JakeThompsonOn3

Read In App

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard (Photo credit: Ole Miss Basketball/X)

When Ole Miss saw its name pop up on the screen in the early moments of the NCAA Tournament selection show there was not another team that filled in the bracket.

Instead the Rebels saw San Diego State and North Carolina fill the spot, signaling a First Four team will be play them in Friday’s first round game at approximately 3:05 p.m. CT in Milwaukee.

Head coach Chris Beard acknowledged on Sunday that he has never played against a play-in team in the first round and that going days without knowing who they will face later in the week was something he did not know how to feel about.

As Tom Petty so eloquently stated: The waiting is the hardest part.

The answer to Ole Miss’ mystery opponent will get answered late Tuesday night with the Tar Heels and Aztecs facing off in Dayton at approximately 8:10 p.m. CT. This gives Beard and his staff two days to come up with a game plan.

But in the meantime? The practices and meetings are more about the Rebels than anybody else.

“I’ve never been in this situation before,” Beard said on Monday. “No matter what our schedule is we always try to get back to us. The NCAA Tournament it’s all about match ups. No doubt about it. Scouting’s going to be part of this high-level basketball. But above all it’s about you. Can you bring your identity?”

Of course when a team starts out its season it does not know that it will first off, make the NCAA Tournament, and secondly, not know their opponent come Selection Sunday.

Still, Beard is one who lives on the philosophy of preparedness. The Ole Miss non-conference schedule this season was created with that purpose in mind.

“We’ve been in this situation before in the non-conference,” Beard added. “We purposely scheduled different times, different locations and different prep periods between games. So just reminding the guys, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before. This will be the schedule this week.’ That is the way we look at it.”

Ole Miss could be featured in one of the highly-talked about first round games this week.

If North Carolina advances to Milwaukee then it could fuel more fire to the controversy of them getting in. The Tar Heels were the last team to get into the field, something another Ole Miss team knows all too well about.

Bubba Cunningham, the North Carolina athletics director, is the chairman of the men’s selection committee that put his basketball team into the field over West Virginia and others, which led to plenty of debate.

Should the Tar Heels move on then it might put an even bigger spotlight on the game with the Rebels when they tip off on TNT come Friday afternoon.

Beard was more focused on celebrating his team’s success in reaching the dance after a five-year absence.

“We can think about all this stuff after the fact but I think there’s no denying that 115 years of Ole Miss basketball, this is the tenth NCAA Tournament bid,” Beard said. “That’s cool. I’m proud of the players, coaches and everybody in our program putting us back on this stage where this program needs to be on a consistent basis.”

Waiting is the hardest part for Ole Miss as it still does not know its NCAA Tournament opponent

Jake Thompson•about 18 hours

Chris Beard and Ole Miss have known for three days they are in the NCAA Tournament, but are still waiting to learn their first opponent....

BASKETBALL

11 Seed North Carolina Advanced To First Round Of NCAA Tournament To Oppose 6 Seed Ole Miss Friday Following Routing 11 Seed San Diego State 95 -68 In First Four Tuesday Night In Dayton

ON AUBURN STAR JOHNI BROOME

ON THE DIFFERENCE IN THE THIRD MATCHUP WITH AUBURN

ON WHEN HE REALIZED OLE MISS WAS GOOD

ON HIS MESSAGE TO THE TEAM HEADING INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

“Secondly, we want to have some fun along the way.”

Waiting is the hardest part for Ole Miss as it still does not know its NCAA Tournament opponent

Ole Miss could be featured in one of the highly-talked about first round games this week.

You may also like

Waiting is the hardest part for Ole Miss as it still does not know its NCAA Tournament opponent

Everything Chris Beard said ahead of Ole Miss’ 10th all-time trip to the NCAA Tournament

Chris Beard defends Ole Miss after being accused of being NCAA Tournament 'frauds'

Beard’s Strategic Seating: Ole Miss coach brings veteran Rebels into NCAA Tournament spotlight

LISTEN: Ole Miss going dancing in March Madness, spring football set to open

Ole Miss misses out on a host seed on way to earning fourth-straight NCAA Tournament bid

GOING DANCING: Ole Miss men's basketball earns first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019

Bracket Watch: Taking a final look at the 'Bracketology' for Ole Miss on Selection Sunday

Ole Miss comes up short in third meeting with Auburn, exits SEC Tournament

One Last Look: Ole Miss riding high into SEC Tournament matchup with top-seeded Auburn

LISTEN: Ole Miss gets a taste of March Madness in SEC Tournament thrilling win

Ole Miss vs. Auburn: How to watch, stream, spread

Bracket Watch: What did the win over Arkansas do for Ole Miss and its 'Bracketology'?

LOOK: March Madness has already started for Sean Pedulla and Ole Miss basketball

Everything Chris Beard said after Ole Miss beat Arkansas in SEC Tournament opener

Next Ole Miss Diaper Dandy? Jacobs named South Carolina’s 2025 Gatorade Player of the Year

Ole Miss knows its first SEC Tournament opponent but this week is about getting itself right

Everything Chris Beard said ahead of Ole Miss’ trip to the SEC Tournament

Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament: How to watch, start time, TV channel

Everything Chris Beard said as Ole Miss basketball turns to the SEC Tournament

Ole Miss wraps up regular season with loss at No. 5 Florida as SEC Tournament awaits

SEC fines Ole Miss for court storming after win over No. 4 Tennessee, AD Keith Carter issues statement

Bracket Watch: It is all about seeding for Ole Miss heading into final 'Bracketology' updates

Ole Miss at No. 5 Florida: How to watch, start time, TV channel

Top 10

Dick Vitale

Madness is undeway

Jay Bilas

EA Sports CFB 26

Mel Kiper