UNC men's basketball's season ends with 71-64 loss to Ole Miss in the first round of NCAA tournament

MILWAUKEE — The 11th-seeded UNC men's basketball team (23-14) fell to sixth-seeded Ole Miss (23-11), 71-64, in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday evening at the Fiserv Forum.

A slow first half for the Tar Heels allowed the Rebels to build an 18-point lead — the second-largest halftime deficit in the NCAA tournament in program history. Despite another spirited comeback in the second half to make it a one-possession game, UNC came up just short in the final two minutes. 

"There was only two choices coming out in the second half, either to respond with that same type of fight or get embarrassed," head coach Hubert Davis said. "And I was really proud of how our guys fought back competitively and got back into the game. But just the whole game, that wasn't us the last two months."

Ole Miss jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes, shooting 4-for-5 from the field while North Carolina moved at a slow crawl, going 1-of-4.  Unsatisfied, Hubert Davis called an early timeout to regroup the Tar Heels.

Out of the timeout, UNC pieced together a 40-second 6-0 run, cutting the deficit to 14-10. Graduate forward Jae'Lyn Withers pump-faked from the wing before knocking down UNC's first 3-pointer of the game, followed by graduate guard RJ Davis pulling up from deep on the fast break. 

But North Carolina's momentum halted again, as junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin checked out of the game for a rest on the bench. The Rebels took advantage of junior forward Jalen Washington in the post, making five of their seven attempts from the field. 

A streaky performance by the North Carolina offense followed for the rest of the half, shooting only 9-for-26 and 27 percent from three. Ole Miss led 44-26 at halftime as UNC's defense struggled to contain the Rebels without fouling. The Tar Heels were dominated on the boards, 21-12, in the first period of regulation. 

"We were lifeless in the first half," junior guard Seth Trimble said. "We had no passion. We had no joy. We looked like the group we were a few months ago."

With 16:02 remaining in regular and UNC down 50-30, Withers — who scored five points and brought down two rebounds — drew a foul on a drive to the rim. He stepped wrong on his way down and immediately fell to the ground, clutching his ankle. He was helped to the bench by his teammates, limping. Lubin stepped up to shoot his free throws, knocking down both.

On the other end, he was called for his third foul and gave the Rebels an and-one opportunity. A minute later, Lubin — North Carolina's leading scorer at the time with 12 points — picked up his fourth, and North Carolina faced a steep climb, 54-36.

Even without Withers and Lubin, the Tar Heels rallied, scoring nine points in three minutes followed by forcing three Ole Miss turnovers in a two-minute span. First-year forward Drake Powell hit a timely 3-pointer from the wing to cut it to 59-48. 

As Ole Miss failed to score for over three minutes, the combined efforts of RJ Davis and Washington helped lead UNC to an 11-0 run, cutting the deficit to 63-57. Despite forcing the Rebels to commit four turnovers in six minutes, the Tar Heels' offense stagnated, falling into a 2:18 scoring drought — missing transition layups and drives to the rim — as Ole Miss held a shaky 65-59 lead with 2:49 to go. 

With a minute to go, RJ Davis threw up a high layup, sinking it for an and-one opportunity and took a hard fall on his back on the baseline. At the line, the graduate guard laced it in, and North Carolina trailed 66-64. 

Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla knocked down a 3-pointer behind a screen with 52 seconds to go to silence North Carolina's momentum. Then, with the ball back in UNC's hands, Powell's three hit off the rim. The Rebels iced it at the free throw line. 

"It just describes our whole season from being [an] up-and-down year, being a difficult year, and persevering," RJ Davis said. 

With the loss, North Carolina's 2024-25 season comes to a close. 

@carolinewills03

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