MILWAUKEE — — Sean Pedulla made a critical 3-pointer with 52.8 seconds left, and Mississippi topped North Carolina 71-64 in the NCAA Tournament on Friday after the Rebels squandered most of a 22-point lead in the second half.
Ole Miss (23-11), the No. 6 seed in the South Region, will chase its first Sweet 16 berth since 2001 when it faces No. 3 seed Iowa State (25-9) on Sunday. Iowa State defeated Lipscomb 82-55 in the other Friday afternoon game in Milwaukee.
The Rebels are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019. They hadn’t won an NCAA tourney game since beating BYU 94-90 in the First Four in 2015, and they hadn’t advanced beyond the round of 64 since 2013.
North Carolina (23-14) made Ole Miss work for it.
RJ Davis drove to the basket, drew a foul and converted a three-point play to cut Ole Miss’ lead to 66-64 with 1:09 remaining. Pedulla responded by sinking Ole Miss’ only successful 3-pointer in seven second-half attempts from beyond the arc.
After North Carolina’s Drake Poell missed a 3 with 43 seconds left, Ole Miss went 4 of 5 on free-throw attempts the rest of the way.
Pedulla finished with 20 points. Dre Davis had 15 for Ole Miss, and Jaemyn Brakefield added 12 points.
RJ Davis scored 15 and Ven-Allen Lubin had 14 for North Carolina, which advanced to the round of 64 with a 95-68 victory over San Diego State in the First Four on Tuesday.
Ole Miss never trailed and seemed on the way to a blowout win for much of the day.
North Carolina trailed 50-30 with just over 16 minutes left when starting forward Jae’lyn Withers was helped off the floor after hurting his right leg on a drive to the basket. Ole Miss still led by 15 with 8:55 remaining.
Then the Tar Heels went on a tear.
A one-handed dunk by Jalen Wahington capped an 11-0 spurt that cut Ole Miss’ lead to 63-59 with 5:07 remaining. RJ Davis eventually made it a one-possession game before Pedulla hit his big shot.
RJ Davis’ UNC farewell
RJ Davis, a fifth-year senior, finishes with 2,725 points to rank second on North Carolina’s career list, trailing Tyler Hansbrough’s 2,872 points from 2005-09. The only other Atlantic Coast Conference player with more career points was JJ Redick, who had 2,769 for Duke from 2002-06.
ACC struggles
North Carolina’s loss continued a rough week for the ACC.
Although four ACC teams reached the NCAA Tournament, only Duke advanced to the round of 32. Louisville, a No. 8 seed in the South, lost 89-75 to Creighton. Clemson, a No. 5 seed in the East Region, fell 69-67 to McNeese.
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