March has a simple rule for teams needing a miracle to get into the NCAA Tournament: survive today so you can worry about tomorrow.
Ole Miss did exactly that Thursday night.
The Rebels built a huge lead, nearly watched it disappear during a furious Georgia rally and still found a way to close out a 76-72 win in the SEC Tournament. It was the kind of gritty result that suddenly makes the path to another week of games more realistic.
They still have a long way to go, but their path has been walked before. In 2008, Georgia won just four SEC games and wound up winning the SEC Tournament and going on to the NCAA Tournament. It’s things like that that make you say “well, maybe they can.”
Survive and Advance 🥊
Round 2 ✔️ | Recap vs. Georgia 🎥#HottyToddy x #Culture pic.twitter.com/C8Wkat7UbG— Ole Miss Men’s Basketball (@OleMissMBB) March 13, 2026
“When your season is on the line, you’re going to play with a different intensity,” senior forward Malik Dia said. “For me personally, I just don’t want to go home. I want another day. I want another moment with these guys. I’m just going to keep playing my heart out for them.”
Ole Miss at least has the right mentality for this.
“Our NCAA Tournament came a week early,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “Our big thing is just tapping into NCAA Tournament experience. We’re not doing anything different. This is survive-and-advance. Starting next week, 68 teams will be in the same situation. That’s the mode we’re in right now. We’re not really talking about winning the whole tournament to get a bid. We’re just trying to win the next game on the schedule. But we understand the moment.”
Of course, the Rebels’ last two games surely left some fans scratching their heads, wondering where this type of play has been all season. It’s been there for most of the season, just the Rebels weren’t finishing and winning.
But Beard also admits the Rebels played some of their best basketball of the year in SEC Tournament wins against Texas and Georgia.
“When you look at the basketball teams we’ve faced — Texas yesterday and Georgia today — those are two of the best offenses in college basketball,” Beard said. “I thought we played about three and a half halves of the best defense we’ve played all year. It really started yesterday with our defensive effort, and today against Georgia, one of the highest-scoring offenses in the country, I thought our guys were dialed in.”
Ole Miss will need to stay dialed in and continuing to play the best defensive basketball it can with No. 2-seed Alabama up next. Of course, that’s easier said than done against the highest-scoring offense in the nation. But one memorable trait of the Rebels will help give them a chance.
“My biggest belief about this team is that these guys have never quit,” Beard said. “People who haven’t seen us play all season are starting to see that now in Nashville. Yesterday against Texas, today against Georgia — you see it. It’s not always pretty and we’re not perfect, but our guys don’t quit. That’s what I’ll always remember about this group.”
