March 11, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Mississippi Rebels forward Malik Dia (0) celebrates after a timeout called by the Texas Longhorns in the first half at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images Malik Dea scored 23 points and Ole Miss never trailed in a 76-66 win over Texas in a first-round game of the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday in Nashville.
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, who will find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday afternoon.
Texas, which was behind by 11 points at halftime, started the second half with 3-pointers from Tramon Mark and Pope to narrow the gap to 41-36.
Pope’s third triple pulled the Longhorns within five, but Ole Miss responded with a 9-1 run to take a 62-49 advantage on Storr’s layup with 8:44 to play.
Swain’s dunk with 5:19 left cut Ole Miss’ lead to seven points, snapping a seven-minute drought without a field goal. After Scott’s dunk extended the lead to nine points, Camden Heide’s 3-point play and Pope’s follow-up triple cut the deficit to 66-63 with 4:07 left.
There, Kamardine found Scott on a lob dunk, and Scott’s putback layup on the next possession gave Ole Miss a seven-point cushion with 1:46 left. Kamardine’s steal and layup capped a pivotal 6-0 run for the Rebels.
Kamardine’s jumper gave Ole Miss a 9-2 lead, and the Rebels built an eight-point advantage on Eduardo Klafke’s 3-point play with 12:01 left in the first half.
Texas missed 13 of its first 15 shots from the field and fell behind 20-10 on Dia’s layup. After missing seven straight 3-pointers, Pope’s trey broke the seal for the Longhorns and cut the deficit to nine with 9:23 left.
After seeing the cushion reduced to five, Ole Miss opened the lead up to 11 on a layup by Storr to force a Texas timeout with 1:36 remaining. Dia’s driving left-handed layup closed out the scoring in the first half, giving Ole Miss a 41-30 halftime advantage. Dia’s 17 first-half points led all scorers.
–Field level media
