MILWAUKEE – Sean Pedulla maintained his belief in himself and his team even as Mississippi let most of a 22-point lead slip from its grasp.
He responded by delivering a shot that helped send the Rebels to their first NCAA Tournament victory in a decade.
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Pedulla sank a critical 3-pointer with 52.8 seconds left, and Ole Miss topped North Carolina 71-64 in a roller-coaster March Madness game on Friday. He stepped up after North Carolina's RJ Davis converted a three-point play to cut Ole Miss' lead to two.
“They were on a huge run, and we needed that bucket,” Pedulla said. “I shot it with confidence, and the rest was in God's hands.”
Ole Miss (23-11), the No. 6 seed in the South Region, will chase its first Sweet 16 berth since 2001 when it faces No. 3 seed Iowa State (25-9) on Sunday. Iowa State defeated Lipscomb 82-55 in the other Friday afternoon game in Milwaukee.
The Rebels are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019. They hadn’t won an NCAA tourney game since beating BYU 94-90 in the First Four in 2015.
Ole Miss coach Chris Beard, who led Texas Tech to an NCAA championship game appearance in 2019, used the win to take one more shot at a media analyst who referred to the Rebels as “frauds” this week.
“I didn't see anything about our team today that looked like there was any fraud in our program,” Beard said. “I didn't see that.”
North Carolina (23-14) made Ole Miss work for it.
RJ Davis drove to the basket, drew a foul and made the ensuing free throw to make it 66-64 with 1:09 remaining. Pedulla responded by sinking Ole Miss’ only successful 3-pointer in seven second-half attempts from beyond the arc.
“I'm just confident in my work," Pedulla said. “Just because we missed a couple, it didn't mean I wasn't going to take a good shot.”
After North Carolina’s Drake Powell missed a 3, Pedulla made two free throws with 34 seconds left to seal the victory.
Pedulla finished with 20 points. Dre Davis had 15 for Ole Miss, and Jaemyn Brakefield added 12.
RJ Davis scored 15 and Ven-Allen Lubin had 14 for North Carolina, which reached the round of 64 with a 95-68 victory over San Diego State in the First Four on Tuesday.
Ole Miss never trailed and seemed on the way to a blowout win for much of the day.
“Every category, every angle in regards to physicality, they not only won in the first half — they dominated us,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “There were only two choices coming out in the second half, either to respond with that same type of fight or get embarrassed.”
North Carolina trailed 50-30 with just over 16 minutes left when starting forward Jae’lyn Withers was helped off the floor after hurting his right leg on a drive to the basket. Ole Miss still led by 15 with 8:55 remaining.
Then the Tar Heels went on a tear.
A one-handed dunk by Jalen Wahington capped an 11-0 spurt that cut Ole Miss’ lead to 63-59 with 5:07 remaining. RJ Davis eventually made it a one-possession game before Pedulla hit his big shot.
RJ Davis’ UNC farewell
RJ Davis, a fifth-year senior, finishes with 2,725 points to rank second on North Carolina’s career list, trailing Tyler Hansbrough's 2,872 points from 2005-09. The only other Atlantic Coast Conference player with more career points was JJ Redick, who had 2,769 for Duke from 2002-06.
“The past five years have been the greatest five years of my life,” Davis said. “It was bigger than basketball.”
ACC struggles
North Carolina’s loss continued a rough week for the ACC.
Although four ACC teams reached the NCAA Tournament, only Duke advanced to the round of 32. Louisville, a No. 8 seed in the South, lost 89-75 to Creighton. Clemson, a No. 5 seed in the East Region, fell 69-67 to McNeese.
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