Texas defeated Ole Miss 85-68 Saturday evening at the SEC Tournament semifinals in Greenville, S.C. The Longhorns advance to face South Carolina on Sunday with the conference title at stake.
Don’t let the final score fool ya.
Though the Rebels trailed buy as much as 16 points versus the Longhorns, Denim DeShields dropped in a three-point shot as time expired at the end of the third quarter, to pull Ole Miss to within 59-57 heading into the final period.
The Longhorns then simply outplayed Ole Miss, playing its third game in three days at the tourney, down the stretch. Back-to-back three-pointers from Longhorns Madison Booker and Jordan Lee midway through the fourth created separation for Texas, as the Rebels fought hard to the finish line.
STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK
Who the heck is Stella? Ok, Mississippi found its mojo. Mississippi as in Ole Miss and Ole Miss as in its women’s basketball program.
The Rebels, whose schedule was decimated by the January ice storm creating neutral-site, Birmingham home games and a murderer’s row down the stretch filled with makeup games, entered the SEC Tournament having lost four in a row and six of eight, showed they are still a dangerous team when the NCAA Tournament rolls around.
Despite the late-season slide, national poll voters seemed to understand, the aforementioned predicament created mostly by Mother Nature. That is evidenced by the Rebels No. 24 occupancy in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. They’ll be higher in the next edition after defeating Auburn and 5th-ranked Vanderbilt to reach the semifinals versus fourth-ranked Texas.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme has Ole Miss as a No. 5 seed in his current bracketology, which should make for a favorable first-round draw in The Big Dance. Where will they go? Who knows. But I promise that no one should want to play them.
The emergence of DeShields as a scoring threat this late and at this critical juncture of the season could be key heading into the NCAA Tournament.
BACK TO THE TEXAS GAME
Deshields, who is the daughter of famed and former Major League Baseball player Delino DeShields, led the Rebels with 20 points. Cotie McMahon also dropped in her usual 20, followed by Christeen Iwuala with 12 points and Latahsa Lattimore with 10. Iwuala led the Rebels with eight rebounds.
The Longhorns’ counter was Booker, who scored 31 points and grabbed 11 boards for Texas. The Mississippi native was simply dominant for the team from the Lone Star State, especially in key moments of the game. Kykla Oldacre assisted Booker with 19 points and eight boards, while Lee scored 14.
Texas led 42-32 at the half and extended its advantage to 16 before the Rebels put together a run capped by DeShields’ trey to pull with two heading into the final quarter.
WHAT’S NEXT?
- Selection Sunday: 7 p.m. CT Sunday, March 15Â on ESPN
- First Four: Wednesday, March 18 and Thursday, March 19
- First round: Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21
- Second round: Sunday, March 22 and Monday, March 23
- Sweet 16: Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28
- Elite Eight: Sunday, March 29 and Monday, March 30
- Final Four: Friday, April 3 at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz.
- NCAA championship game: Sunday, April 5Â at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz.