MILWAUKEE — Jaemyn Brakefield and Matthew Murrell sat in the Ole Miss locker room in the aftermath of Friday’s 71-64 win over North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
They were faced with a conundrum of sorts, having finally won an NCAA Tournament game yet also not wanting to reflect too much, knowing a second-round date with Iowa State loomed on Sunday. “It’s definitely a special moment,” Murrell said. “Just because it’s our first NCAA appearance but we can only enjoy the win for so long. We have to get ready for the next game.”
It was Ole Miss’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, its first NCAA Tournament win since 2015.
“It’s great doing it with this group of guys that I had a hand in the recruitment process with,” Brakefield said. “Just knowing that the first conversations we had was not only making March Madness but getting a lot of wins.”
Brakefield said Friday’s late poise came as a result of playing in the Southeastern Conference, a league that produced 14 NCAA Tournament teams.
“We just used those as lessons and learning from those helped us in this moment,” Brakefield said.
Davis has career half: Ole Miss guard Dre Davis scored all 15 of his points in the first half and grabbed five of his eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes as well.
“I think I was just taking my time, being patient with the game,” Davis said. “My teammates were putting me in position and getting me good looks. We had good point guard play. Everybody was just feeding off each other and I just happened to be the recipient of some outhouse good screens and good passes. I just tried to do my part and knock it down.”
“Dre Davis is a dawg,” Ole Miss guard Jaylen Murray said. “It’s just that we’ve got to bring it out of him all the time. Once we get out of him, Dre is capable of doing anything — rebounding, getting stops, big-time blocks, scoring. All the stuff that Dre did today, that’s what we need him to do. We’ve been asking him for it the whole time.”
BARNES HAS BIG NIGHT ON DEFENSE: Ole Miss guard Davon Barnes scored just one point in 19 minutes, but his role on defense was huge. Barnes was a menace Friday, bringing physicality to Ole Miss’ defense. He had four rebounds and a steal, managing foul trouble most of the game. “We always talk about me playing aggressive,” Barnes said. “So even though I had a decent amount of fouls, I was aggressive. I was still being smart as well, not doing little things but still being aggressive and having an impact on the floor. I definitely think I made an impact.”
Barnes said he felt Ole Miss’ pressure bothered North Carolina, especially early.
“We like to emphasize getting pressure, getting steals, applying pressure and making things uncomfortable,” Barnes said. “Whenever they started coming back, we just tried to heat them up, extend our pressure, get in passing lanes and if they drove, be physical with them. We always pride ourselves on being physical all the way down to the paint.”
QUOTEWORTHY: “I didn’t see anything today that looked like there was any fraud in our program. I didn’t see that. I saw a team that had a good season in the SEC just beat North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.” — Chris Beard, obviously referencing a comment made on Selection Sunday by CBS Sports commentator Tim Doyle, who called the Rebels “a fraud.”
Up next: Iowa State: Milan Momcilovic scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half, and third-seeded Iowa State routed Lipscomb 82-55 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
Curtis Jones had 17 points as Iowa State bounced back nicely after dropping four of seven going into the tourney.
Momcilovic, a 6-foot-8 sophomore from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, made four 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds.
“It means a lot to put on a show in front of friends and family. I wanted them to come to a good game and they got that,” Momcilovic said.
Jacob Ognacevic, the player of the year in the Atlantic Sun, led Lipscomb with 18 points. Gyasi Powell added 11.
Healthy again after being sidelined with a hand injury earlier in the season, Momcilovic took over in the first half. He scored 12 points in a 14-0 run that helped the Cyclones to a 40-24 halftime lead.
“I think I hit two or three 3s and then I took advantage of the smaller defender on me and took him down low,” Momcilovic said.
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said his team remained poised as Lipscomb took an early lead.
“There wasn’t panic. We didn’t rush or do anything out of character,” he said. “And then Milan just took over the game. You could see his confidence growing once he saw it go through the basket and credit to his teammates for doing an unbelievable job of finding him.”
Iowa State’s size advantage bothered Lipscomb for much of the afternoon. It was the lowest scoring game of the season for the 14th-seeded Bisons (25-10).
Tamin Lipsey, who has been dealing with a groin injury that kept him out of Iowa State’s Big 12 Tournament loss to BYU, had 10 points in his return to the lineup. He provided a boost for a Cyclones team playing without second-leading scorer Keshon Gilbert because of a groin injury.
“They are one of the few teams in the country that just pound the ball inside. They really took advantage of us,” Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. “We were fighting, but we just really didn’t have an answer. In order for us to win we knew we had to shoot it well. I think we made five 3s in the first 10 minutes and I don’t think we made another one for 20 minutes. They force you to get it off a little quicker. They have a little bit more length than we normally see.”
“They’ve got a great coach,” Beard said. “TJ have gone at it before, certainly from our years in the Big 12. The program he’s sustained there is real. I watch a lot of college basketball throughout the season so I’ve seen his team play several times. I haven’t started in the preparation on that game but we had staff members working on that ahead of time.
“But I know this: It’s one of the best teams in college basketball. Period. They have a defensive identity, a really good coach and a lot of talented players I’ve been following for years — both coaching against them and recruiting some of those guys. This will be a real Round of 32 game. These are two teams that are worthy to get to the second weekend. We’ll have to play our best 40 minutes. We’ll have to play better than we did today for 40 minutes to be successful on Sunday.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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