Mississippi’s M.J. Rhett dunks against Brigham Young in the second half of a first round NCAA tournament gameTuesday, March 17, 2015 in Dayton, Ohio. Mississippi won 94-90 to advance. (AP Photo/Skip Peterson)
DAYTON, Ohio — In an absolute classic, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team erased a 17-point halftime deficit to knock off Brigham Young University 94-90 in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament in Dayton, Ohio.
“Welcome to March Madness,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said.
Ole Miss trailed 49-32 at the end of the first half and outscored BYU 62-41 in the second half to advance Ole Miss to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We know we were losing at halftime and all we wanted to do was battle,” Kennedy said. “We are a good basketball team. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be here. Let’s play like it.”
The hero of the night on offense was junior guard Stefan Moody, who scored an Ole Miss NCAA Tournament record 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-9 from three. Moody snapped out of a recent five game stretch where he shot just 26 percent from the floor.
“It felt great,” Moody said. “I was just trying to make plays. Coach challenged us to make plays and come back in the second half. Those are some of the big shots you have to make.”
On the other end of the floor, senior forward M.J. Rhett anchored a ferocious defense in the second half as he finished with a career-high three blocks and scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field in the game. Rhett certainly lived up to the pressure of playing in the Big Dance.
“We belong here,” Rhett said. “I feel like we belong here. We wanted to make a run and just keep going.”
After allowing ten 3-pointers and the second-most points in a single half this season (49) in the first half against BYU, Ole Miss held the Cougars to 48.3 percent shooting in the second half, compared to 57.1 percent in the first half. BYU was led in scoring by the program’s all-time scoring leader, senior Tyler Haws, who finished with 33 points on 13-of-23 shooting, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.
“We knew BYU wasn’t going to stop shooting that ball,” Kennedy said. “We knew they were going to play fast and we were going to speed them up. I thought the entire game changed when we changed the tempo. We got them going a little faster, and they finally missed one or two.”
BYU dominated the first half due to their hot shooting from the three-point mark. However, Ole Miss made adjustments in the second half to limit their perimeter shooting.
“We knew what the game plan was to try to run them off the three-point line,” Rhett said. “We executed in the second half and we got stops, and came together as a team. We did what we had to do.”
Even though he missed ten shots in the first half, Ole Miss senior guard Jarvis Summers rallied to score 11 points and dished out 10 assists in the game as he provided a huge lift for the Rebels in the second half.
“I told him I’m going to ride with him and he’s my senior,” Kennedy said. “He was on top of his game despite his struggles shooting the ball.”
Ole Miss improved to 5-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, and tied the program’s record for most field goals made (36) and assists (24) in an NCAA Tournament game. The Rebels also tied a school record for most rebounds (43) in an NCAA Tournament game.
“It’s pretty satisfying right now,” Kennedy said. “We’re only the fourth team in the history of Ole Miss basketball to win a (NCAA Tournament) game. So that’s gratifying and certainly gratifying for a group that nobody thought would be in this tournament.”
The No. 11 seeded Ole Miss Rebels will advance to play the No. 6 seeded Xavier Musketeers in the second round Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida. Tip-off is set for 3:10 p.m. C.T.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball during the NCAA Tournament, follow @browningstubbs and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
