MILWAUKEE — Ole Miss had a “scary start” Sunday night at Fiserv Forum.
Everything else was basically perfect.
The Rebels rallied from an early eight-point deficit to roll over Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, 91-78.
With the win, Ole Miss (24-11) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history and the first time since 2001.
Ole Miss will face Michigan State Friday at 6:07 CDT in the South Regional semifinals in Atlanta. Auburn and Michigan will make up the rest of the bracket, with one of those four teams advancing to the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio early next month.
Second-year coach Chris Beard said Sunday’s win, which came two days after a win over North Carolina, was a result of players buying into the vision he presented to them during the recruiting process.
“It hasn't been done recently, but telling these guys what we thought we could do at Ole Miss, they trusted us enough to come,” Beard said. "Excited about the players. All my thoughts are on those guys.
“We came here to win a four-team tournament. So two down. It takes six to win the whole thing. I told the guys to enjoy this for half a day and we will get back to work tomorrow. We're excited about our next opportunity in the Sweet 16.”
Ole Miss started slow, looking overwhelmed by Iowa State’s superior size inside in the early minutes of the game. Then the Rebels responded with 35 minutes of elite basketball, beating the Cyclones in every phase.
“I think it's just, you know, us settling into the game,” Ole Miss guard Davon Barnes said. “Iowa State just wanted to turn us over. But we came out sluggish, and once we settled in, we played our game, played our tempo, executed our offense and executed on defense, and then we had our foot on the gas from there.”
“The big thing was we had too many turnovers the first few minutes,” Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell said. "Our goal is to always have eight or less turnovers, and Iowa State is the team that forces 16, 17 turnovers a game. So I feel like once we started taking care of the ball more, we was able to settle in and play.”
Beard took over an Ole Miss program that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019. Two years later, he’s got the Rebels in the Sweet 16. Earlier in his career, he guided both Little Rock and Texas to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He led Texas Tech to an Elite Eight and to the national championship game.
“It's really not about me,” Beard said. “It’s just about these players. I mean, we got guys that have played four and five years of college basketball and given everything they could have possibly given and just haven't played in the NCAA Tournament yet.
“And we felt that pressure. We were kind of a win-or-bust team. We set the objective really high. We want to go in the tournament. We want to have a good seed. We want to be one of those teams that has a chance to win the tournament. And Ole Miss winning the tournament, probable? No. Possible? Absolutely.”
Ole Miss shot 58 percent from the field and the 3-point line. The Rebels committed just eight turnovers. That allowed them to overcome losing the rebounding battle, 34-29. Five Rebels scored in double-figures, led by Sean Pedulla with 20 points, Jaemyn Brakefield with 19 and Malik Dia with 18. Murrell added 15 points and JuJu Murray chipped in with 11.
“We took care of the basketball, and we were committed to the defensive end for most of the game,” Pedulla said. “We have several players on our team that are fearless guys. They all have the courage to take that shot, make that play on defense.
“One of our challenges this year has been, when this journey started, making sure that each individual player could be the best version of themselves, but also let's work this as a too many. So we spent time this summer watching the USA Basketball documentary trying to demonstrate how their team was a bunch of talented guys that came together with one purpose. Our team is a bunch of talented guys that come together with one purpose. …I think that's one of the stories of our team, is all these guys, they checked their egos at the door when they arrived at Oxford, and they're playing for each other.”
Iowa State finished its season at 25-10.
“They're a team that plays with a lot of toughness,” Iowa State coach TJ Oltzelberger said. “They’re connected defensively. Their switching can be disruptive. At times it wears on you mentally. You’re not able to get the ball in the paint and not get the normal plays that you want to make.
“Offensively they do a really good job within the realm of their motion, keeping the basketball on the move and not allowing our pressure to settle in. Both certainly paid off for them, and what we saw on film showed up for them tonight.”
Curtis Jones led the Cyclones with 26 points. Josh Jefferson added 16 and Nate Heise 13.
