March 11, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Mississippi Rebels forward James Scott (4) dunks the ball against the Texas Longhorns in the second half at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images Malik Dia scored 23 points and Ole Miss held on for a 76-66 win over Texas in a first-round game of the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday in Nashville, leaving the Longhorns sweating for the next three-plus days.
AJ Storr added 18 points and Ilias Kamardine had 16 for the 15th-seeded Rebels (13-19). The Rebels won despite making just one of 10 3-point attempts. James Scott had 10 points and nine rebounds for Ole Miss, which will face seventh-seeded Georgia on Thursday.
Dailyn Swain led 10th-seeded Texas (18-14) with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Pope had 16 points and Matas Vokietaitis had 10 for the Longhorns. The Longhorns are now firmly in limbo and will find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday afternoon.
With the Longhorns down by 9, a 3-point play by Camden Heide and a follow-up 3-pointer by Pope cut the deficit to 66-63 with 4:07 left. But the Rebels answered with six straight to put the game away.
Auburn 79, Mississippi State 61
Thanks to Kevin Overton’s 22 points, five assists and four rebounds, the Tigers beat the Bulldogs in the first round and further boosted their NCAA Tournament hopes.
The Tigers (17-15) got 15 points and nine rebounds from Keshaun Murphy, 14 points from Keshaun Hall and 13 from Tahad Pettiford. Auburn will face fifth-seeded Tennessee (21-10) on Thursday afternoon.
Mississippi State (13-19) got 22 points from leading scorer Josh Hubbard, who had 46 points against Auburn in regular-season matchups and 42 points in Saturday’s loss to Georgia. But Hubbard finished 8 of 25 from the floor and missed both of his second-half 3-point attempts.
Kentucky 87, LSU 82
Otega Oweh had 23 points and eight rebounds and the Wildcats had just five turnovers in holding off the Tigers in their first-round game.
Brandon Garrison added 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Denzel Aberdeen added 16 points for the Wildcats (20-12). Max Mackinnon led LSU (15-17) with 28 points and Michael Nwoko added 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Kentucky will face Missouri, which beat the visiting Wildcats 73-68 on Jan. 7, in the second round on Thursday. The Wildcats shot 50.0 percent from the floor and 73.9 percent from the foul line against LSU in a game in which neither team led by more than four points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Oklahoma 86, South Carolina 74
Nijel Pack scored 24 points and hit five 3-pointers to help the Sooners pull out a win over the Gamecocks in their first-round matchup.
Derrion Reid added 20 points for 11th-seeded Oklahoma (18-14) to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Tae Davis scored 18 points for the Sooners, who have won their fifth straight game and face sixth-seeded Texas A&M on Thursday night. Xzayvier Brown scored 14 points in the win.
Kobe Knox led 14th-seeded South Carolina (13-19) with 20 points, followed by Mike Sharabzamtz with 19 points and eight rebounds. Meechie Johnson scored 14 points for the Gamecocks, who held a 13-point lead at halftime.
–Field level media
