Ole Miss cruises past Missouri to move to SEC quarterfinals

The Daily Mississippian Deandre Burnett rattled home a 3-point ball from the top of the key and ran back down to the defensive end grimacing in pain. The junior guard’s knees were far from 100 percent on Thursday night, but you couldn’t have gathered that from his 23-point performance in Ole Miss’ 86-74 win over Missouri in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Burnett hit his first six shots of the game and helped the Rebels navigate their way out of a sluggish start in which the rest of the team opened the game missing 12 of their first 15 shots.
(Photo courtesy: Josh McCoy | OleMissSports.com)
“Any time you make your first shot it feels good. All the pain goes out of the way,” Burnett said. “I’m just trying to battle through it and play hard for my team. That was pretty much my mindset.”
Ole Miss came to Nashville, Tennessee, with its NCAA Tournament hopes on life support and with a little bit of momentum. The Rebels are peaking when it counts, closing out the regular season with a 75-70 victory over South Carolina. Andy Kennedy had hoped that his team would use that momentum to make a run in a building his program had a history with. His 2013 team won an SEC Championship in Bridgestone Arena, and his 2017 bunch will likely need to do the same if it wishes to earn a bid to the Big Dance. Four games in four nights is a tall task, but Kennedy and his group are taking it one step at a time.
The Rebels made quick work of Mizzou in the first leg of their postseason journey. Sebastian Saiz had a double-double at halftime with 12 points and 11 boards. He finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds. The Tigers made six of their first 11 3-point shots, and it was primarily why Ole Miss had trouble ...


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