Another night of elimination basketball had the Ole Miss Rebels once again playing in what could be the season-ender, facing Alabama in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal. At this point, Ole Miss had already won two games in two days and was looking to make it a third as the Rebs sought to remain hot in the SEC Tournament. 

Sure, Alabama won the regular-season matchup, but this was tournament play, and Ole Miss had gotten hot. Coming into tonight’s matchup with the Crimson Tide, the Rebels had played like a changed team to this point in the tournament. 

Ole Miss would start strong, taking a 47-41 lead into the halftime break, creating an uneasy feeling among Crimson Tide fans in attendance. 

Leading the way for the Rebels in scoring in the first half was AJ Storr with 13 first-half points. Storr was among three Rebels scoring double digits at the halftime break; the other two were Malik Dia with ten and Patton Pinkins with 11. 

As the second half progressed, despite the barrage of comeback attempts from Alabama, Ole Miss stayed steady even until the final media timeout of the game as the Rebels held a 78-71 lead over the Crimson Tide with 3:42 remaining in the half. Despite the efforts of Alabama, Ole Miss never faltered, and the Rebels escaped with another victory in Nashville. Ole Miss has not trailed a single second this tournament, and it has flipped the switch that many never thought possible. Out of all the years of the SEC Tournament, this had all the potential to go down as one of the greatest runs by any team in the history of the event. Ole Miss has won three games in three days and is now two wins away from reaching the NCAA Tournament. 

As it’s been all tournament long, the Rebels had a balanced scoring attack on Friday night with AJ Storr, Malik Dia, Ilia Kamardine, and Patton Pinkins scoring double digits. AJ Storr led the way in scoring for the Rebels with 17 points. 

You thought the run to the Sweet-16 last season was memorable; what Ole Miss has done this tournament will go down in the folklore of this era of Ole Miss basketball, no matter how this thing finishes. The Rebs got hot, and now they’ll face the winner of Oklahoma and Arkansas on Saturday. Relish this moment, Ole Miss fans; this type of run will be something you tell your kids about one day. 

Photo Credits- Ole Miss basketball on X