UNC's season ends as huge rally falls short in 71-64 loss to Ole Miss
MILWAUKEE, WIS. (WTVD) -- North Carolina rallied from a huge halftime deficit and nearly pulled off a stunning comeback before falling 71-64 against No. 6 seed Mississippi on Friday afternoon.
It was a shocking turn of events as Ole Miss appeared to have the game well in hand, leading 44-26 at the break and building a 22-point lead in the second half.
But as they did against Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals, the Heels refused to fold, getting within two.
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.
But Sean Pedulla hit a huge 3-pointer to give the Rebels a 69-64 lead with 52.9 seconds left. It was Ole Miss' only successful 3-pointer in seven second-half attempts from beyond the arc.
After North Carolina's Drake Powell missed a 3 with 43 seconds left, Ole Miss went 4 of 5 on free-throw attempts the rest of the way.
Pedulla sank two free throws to make it 71-64. Neither team scored again and the Tar Heels' valiant comeback effort - and season - came to an end.
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.
Pedulla finished with 20 points. Dre Davis had 15 for Ole Miss, and former Duke player Jaemyn Brakefield added 12 points.
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.
Ole Miss (23-11) 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'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.
The Tar Heels ended the season 23-14.
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.
The Associated Press contributed.
