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Ole Miss Rebels
Day 1 of NCAA Tournament action in Milwaukee celebrated the beauty of college basketball. Although no in-state teams landed in the Cream City this year, fans from across the country descended in large numbers for a well-played opening day of hoops.
Supporters of Illinois and Iowa State gave their teams a notable home-floor advantage at Fiserv Forum. Followers of blue bloods Kentucky and North Carolina also made their presence known.
When the final horn sounded, the bracket showed all four favorites advancing. Their average margin of victory was 16 points.
Despite the lack of upsets, these First Round results set up a pair of intriguing Second Round tussles on Sunday between four talented programs: Iowa State vs. Ole Miss and Kentucky vs. Illinois.
Pewaukee’s Momcilovic Powers Iowa State Past Lipscomb
For 10 minutes, the battle between David and Goliath was an even fight. The Bisons showed why they are a top-75 offense, hitting a trio of early threes to give the underdogs a 16-15 lead.
From there, Milan Momcilovic and the Cyclones took over. ISU answered with a 14-0 run. The Pewaukee native provided 12 of those points. The 3-seed turned a one-point deficit into a 16-point advantage at halftime.
Momcilovic was 3-4 with 17 points in the first half and finished with 20 points for the game in front of a local crowd. Despite the extra excitement, the ISU forward did not let the attention affect his game.
“I just do what I do every day,” Momcilovic said, “don’t get too high because I’m back at home and a lot of fans are watching me. If I have that same mindset, good things will happen.”
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Momcilovic and a stiffer Cyclone defense ensured that they maintained their halftime lead. Lipscomb, with its top-50 three-point accuracy, went 8-28 from deep on the afternoon. The Bisons did not find success down low, either.
Iowa State finished with a 50-20 advantage on points in the paint, making 20 of their 26 shots at the rim. The favorites led by as many as 33 points before settling for a 27-point victory.
Sheboygan native Jacob Ognacevic, the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, was the lone positive performance for the Bisons, scoring 18 points. Ognacevic shot 7-11 from the field; the rest of the team was 12-40.
Lipscomb head coach Lennie Acuff praised ISU’s stout defense.
“[Coach Otzelberger] made some adjustments that really bothered us. They turned up their pressure, and they got more physical. Every possession, there was a defining moment that we couldn't win. We couldn't win the spot on either end. We had a hard time getting separation. That's how we play; get inside the lane and kick.”
Ole Miss Can’t Miss
On Tuesday’s First Four game, North Carolina scored 95 points in a blowout 95-67 win over San Diego State. R.J. Davis was a perfect 6-6 from three as the Tar Heels went 14-25 from deep.
Against Ole Miss, it was the #6 seed Rebels that controlled the game early via their sharpshooting. Mississippi made six of its first seven three-pointers, opening up a 15-point lead at the midway point of the first period.
Ole Miss head coach was impressed by his team’s performance, saying: “[Our] first half was one of our best halves of the year,” Beard said. “That’s what it takes in the NCAA Tournament.”
Mississippi led by as many as 22 points in the second stanza, but as the three-point shots dried up, North Carolina started their comeback. Seven quick points from Menomonee Falls product Seth Trimble cut into the deficit.
With eight-and-a-half minutes remaining, the Tar Heels made their move. The 11-seed went on an 11-0 run, punctuated by a ferocious Jalen Washington dunk.
The lead was down to five; both teams leaned on their best players to finish the game. Ole Miss’ Sean Pedulla converted a layup to put his team up six and quiet the Tar Heel faithful.
A few possessions later, UNC’s star guard R.J. Davis hit an acrobatic layup and converted the ensuing free throw to get his team within two.
Mississippi returned to Pedulla. Coming out of a stoppage, Pedulla ran a pick and roll. When his defender went under the screen, Ole Miss’ clutch shooter nailed a three-pointer.
“Coming out of the timeout, we had something drawn up,” Pedulla said. “And going through my mind was just get a good shot off. Play confident, don’t think too much. [The defender] went under the screen, so I shot it.”
Coach Beard was impressed by his team’s composure after North Carolina made its run. “Our word is poise; don’t get too high or too low. We have a veteran team. We were composed when it mattered most.”
Pedulla’s three-pointer with 52 seconds remaining was the dagger. Ole Miss held on for a 71-64 win — the program’s first time advancing to the Round of 32 since 2013. The Rebels will face Iowa State on Sunday.
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Kentucky Cruises Past Troy
If nothing else, the Troy Trojans stayed true to their identity. The Sun Belt squad takes a lot of threes but does not make many. The Trojans are 59th in three-point rate and 339th in three-point percentage (30.3%).
Against Kentucky, the three-point attempts rained in — 32 in total — but only eight found the bottom of the net, a 25% success rate.
When facing a 3-seed, that inefficiency won’t cut it. The Wildcats were effective from inside and out, recording assists on 23 of 28 made field goals in a 76-57 victory. Oweh Otega led the way with 20 points on 8-13 shooting.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope noted how impressive his team’s offensive effort was against a tough Troy defense. “The Troy defense is terrific,” Pope said. “They’re incredibly disruptive, the number seven steals team in the country. The key is our guys being aggressive — trying to make plays for their teammates. Against a team that’s aggressive like that, that’s the recipe.”
For the Wildcats, that aggressiveness in the second half resulted in a 16-0 run — extending a six-point advantage into an insurmountable 22-point lead.
A pair of unsung bench players — Collin Chandler and Brandon Garrison — sparked that key stretch. Chandler nailed a pair of three-pointers and three foul shots, while Garrison added six points of his own.
Chandler, who didn’t score a point in January, is now a significant rotation player for the Wildcats due to numerous injuries.
Coach Pope recognized Chandler’s importance, saying: “The best part of coaching is watching guys that are super committed and [have] a ton of talent and a great work ethic, and watching the process of them realize themselves a bit. [Collin] is going to turn into a really special player.”
Kentucky defeated Troy 76-57, setting up a Second Round matchup with Illinois.
Illinois-Xavier
Which Illinois team will show up today? Fans of the blue and orange have asked this question all season, as the Illini rank 359th in Haslametrics’ Consistency metric.
At their best, this squad dismantled NCAA Tournament teams Oregon and Michigan. This same team also lost to Duke, Maryland, and Wisconsin by a combined 87 points in the last month.
The key for Illinois is three-point shooting. Brad Underwood’s team takes many threes but is inefficient from beyond the arc.
The Illinois that showed up Friday night had Final Four potential.
The game began at a frantic pace, with Illinois leading 17-14 at the first media timeout. The up-and-down flow curtailed slightly, but scoring productivity stayed high. In the first 20 minutes, the Big Ten program was 6-13 from deep, while the Big East school was 7-14.
As Illinois strung together more stops, Xavier’s defense struggled to slow down the 6-seed — particularly freshman Will Riley.
In the second half, the Illinois wing showed why he is a potential NBA first-round pick. His two-handed block at the rim in the first moments of the second period led to a three-pointer on the other end and sparked an 8-0 Illini run.
Xavier closed in, but Riley again showed off his offensive arsenal, scoring three straight buckets. The first — a clever hesitation move on a dribble drive, finished off by an authoritative dunk. Next was another slam from an astute back-cut.
The 6-8 freshman concluded his personal 7-0 run with an unguardable step-back three. Riley finished with 22 points, 18 in the second half, leading Illinois to an 86-73 win over 11-seed Xavier.
“We’re not freshmen anymore,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said after the game. “These guys have been playing 30-plus minutes a game. I like their ceiling because I know how talented they are.”
Riley endured a mid-season slump in which his playing time and confidence dropped. With three 20-point performances in his last four games, Illinois’ ceiling continues to rise.
