It was a familiar script for Ole Miss.

Play a good team tight, only to miss shots down the stretch and fall short.

Ole Miss has lost eight games this season by five points or less, and that doesn't include an overtime loss to Mississippi State last month. The Rebels followed that formula Saturday afternoon in Missouri, losing an 82-77 decision to the Tigers.

Ole Miss finished the regular season 11-20 overall and 3-15 in the Southeastern Conference. Missouri, under first-year coach Dennis Gates, finished 23-8 overall and 11-7 in the league.

Ole Miss will face South Carolina on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the opening game of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Should the Rebels win, they would play the No. 5 seed (likely Tennessee) on Thursday at approximately 2:30 p.m. That seed had not been determined as of this writing.

Missouri, thanks to an Auburn win over Tennessee earlier in the day, earned a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers will face the winner of the aforementioned 5-12/13 game on Friday afternoon.

Ole Miss led, 72-71, after Jaemyn Brakefield's 3-pointer with 3:24 left. However, Missouri took the lead for good a minute later, getting a 3-pointer from D'Moi Hodge with 2:28 left.

DeAndre Gholston's lay-up with 1:10 left expanded the Tigers' lead to 76-72. Ole Miss got a dunk from Robert Allen to cut the Tigers' lead in half with 55.5 seconds left, but Missouri's Noah Carter delivered the dagger -- a hook with 28.4 seconds left. Brakefield fouled Carter on the play, and Carter made the free throw, giving Missouri a 79-74 lead

Matthew Murrell scored a traditional 3-point play with 20.9 seconds left to pull Ole Miss back to within 79-77.

Nick Honor made two free throws with 20.2 seconds left to extend the Tigers' lead to two possessions, and after a missed 3-pointer from Murrell, Hodge made the front end of a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to put the game away.

"I'm very, very proud of how our team fought," Ole Miss interim coach Win Case said. "I've said all along about character. I just love them. I told them after the ballgame that I'm just so proud of them and now it's a whole new season getting ready for the SEC Tournament. We're excited to go up to Nashville and let the chips fall where they may."

Brakefield led Ole Miss with 21 points and four rebounds. Murrell added 14 points and four rebounds, while James White had 14 points and a pair of boards. Myles Burns had a double-double, getting 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Missouri was paced by Kobe Brown and Carter, who each finished with 17 points. Gholston finished with 15 and Hodge 14.

The Tigers shot 55 percent from the floor and 30 percent from the 3-point line. Ole Miss shot 51 percent from the floor but made just five of its 22 attempts from behind the 3-point arc.

"Missouri made some tough, tough shots," Case said. "Like I told our guys after the game, if those shots don't go in at critical points during the game, I think we have a really, really good chance of coming away with a road win."

Murrell, who went for 26 points versus Texas A&M earlier in the week, was just 1-for-8 from the 3-point line Saturday.

"We want him to be more aggressive, but for some reason, those shots didn't go in down the stretch (Saturday)," Case said.