Ole Miss to Dance with Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badgers will face Ole Miss on Friday in the NCAA West Region in a matchup of teams that are on impressive late-season runs.

The Badgers (23-11) lost to Ohio State 50-43 Sunday in Chicago but still earned a No. 5 seed in the West. They’ll face the 12th-seeded Rebels (26-8), who won the Southeastern Conference tournament title for the first time since 1981.

Wisconsin had advanced to the Big Ten final with a pair of impressive victories over No. 6 Michigan and third-ranked Indiana, which earned one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament.

Behind Murphy Holloway and Marshall Henderson, Ole Miss gave seventh-year Rebels coach Andy Kennedy his first NCAA tournament berth by upsetting 13th-ranked Florida 66-63 Sunday for the SEC crown.

Game CapsuleWisconsin

Madison, 23-11.

Nickname: Badgers. Coach: Bo Ryan.

Conference: Big Ten. Bid: At large.

Region: West. Seed: No. 5.

Tournament Record: 25-17, 18 years. Last appearance: 2012.

Scoring: Team (66.2); Ben Brust 11.4; Jared Berggren 11.3; Ryan Evans 10.4; Sam Dekker 9.5.

Rebounds: Team (36.9); Ryan Evans 7.5; Jared Berggren 6.9; Mike Bruesewitz 5.3; Ben Brust 5.2.

Assists/Turnovers: Team (13.5/9.8); Ben Brust 2.4/1.2; Traevon Jackson 2.8/2.1; Ryan Evans 2.0/1.6.

3-pointers: Team (.338); Ben Brust 77; Sam Dekker 48; George Marshall 35.

Last Ten: 6-4.

Ole Miss

Oxford, 26-8.

Nickname: Rebels. Coach: Andy Kennedy.

Conference: Southeatern. Bid: SEC champion.

Region: West. Seed: No. 12.

Tournament Record: 3-6, 6 year. Last NCAA Appearance: 2002.

Scoring: Team (79.1); Marshall Henderson 20.1; Murphy Holloway 14.6; Reginald Buckner 9.5; Jarvis Summers 9.0.

Rebounds: Team (39.5); Murphy Holloway 9.6; Reginald Buckner 7.4; Aaron Jones 4.1.

Assists/Turnovers: Team (12.7/11.5); Jarvis Summers 3.7/1.6.

3-pointers: Team (.336); Marshall Henderson 131; Nick Williams 27; LaDarius White 27.

Last Ten: 8-2.

Read more: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal – Ole Miss will face Wisconsin in NCAA Tournament