NCAA Tournament: Ole Miss opens as underdog to North Carolina for first round matchup
After North Carolina demolished San Diego State on Tuesday night in the First Four matchup, the Tar Heels opened up as favorites over Ole Miss. The Rebels are 1.5-point underdogs to Hubert Davis’ squad, according to FanDuel Wednesday morning.
The total is set for 155.5 points while UNC is -120 for the moneyline and Ole Miss is +100.
In Dayton, North Carolina beat SDSU, 95-68, after the Tar Heels were the last team in the field for March Madness. Now, they look to continue their play against an Ole Miss team that’s beaten two Top 5 teams this year.
“We know we deserved to be here. We’re not looking to send a message to anybody else,” UNC guard Seth Trimble said after the win. “We’re just looking to compete as a team and be the team that we know that we’re capable of being. I think we did that tonight. We’ll go through that when we get to Milwaukee and go from there. We hear what people say. We don’t really care. It is what it is. We’re focused on us.”
Ole Miss coach Chris Beard often talks about focusing on his own team and having the team focus on themselves, which is critical this time of year. That’s why they’re working to make sure they know what to expect with so many newcomers to the NCAA Tournament.
“We try not to have any surprises this time of year — all the way down to the hotel, bus to practice and practice. When you’re really prepared is when you have a chance to be confident. With our players that have played in the NCAA Tournament — Sean (Pedulla), Juju (Murray) and (Davon) Barnes — leaning on those guys’ experience,” Beard said Monday. “Kind of registering their memory banks to what it was like. With our staff that’s one thing we’ll do. We already started that last night and continued it this morning. We’re just trying to make sure our guys are prepared and knowledgeable of what this tournament is. It’s a little bit different than the games we’ve been playing.”
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Davis said after the win for UNC that he’s not sure the Tar Heels are going to have as much success from beyond the arc. UNC shot 14-of-24 from three-point range, good for 58.3 percent.
“What I think can carry over is the defense, the taking care of the basketball and the rebounding. Now, it would be great if we hit 14 threes on Friday; I’ll take that,” Davis said. “But the reason why I consistently tell the team the three boxes that we have to check is defense, rebounding, taking care of the basketball is because those are things that travel, and those are the things you can take care of, you’re in control of.
“Making, missing shots, those things go in and out. But if you defend, you rebound, you take care of the basketball, it doesn’t matter who you play, you’re going to be in the game.”
RJ Davis led all scorers with 26 points, hitting all six of his three-point attempts and 8 of 12 shots overall. Jae’Lyn Withers had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Seth Trimble scored 16 points and Elliot Cadeau had nine points and 12 assists.
Tip-off for Ole Miss vs. North Carolina is set for Friday at 3:05 p.m. CT on TNT from Milwaukee.
