End of the line: UNC basketball falls to Ole Miss in first round of NCAA Tournament

There is no easy way to exit the NCAA Tournament.

A season ends and there is pain. Often, there are tears. One team keeps its season alive, all the possibilities still in front of it, and the loser glumly boards a charter flight and goes home.

North Carolina’s season came to an end Friday and there was pain, and some tears, and a lot of frustration. The Tar Heels, whose entrance to the NCAA Tournament came with controversy, were ousted 71-64 by the Mississippi Rebels despite a gutsy comeback by the Heels that brought suspense and tension to the final minutes.

The Tar Heels, seeded No. 11 in the South Region, finished 23-14 in a season of ups and downs that seemingly tested everyone’s patience. Ole Miss (23-11), the No. 6 seed, moves on to face Iowa State in Sunday’s second round.

But the Rebels, the No. 6 seed, had an unexpected fight on their hands in the final minutes of the game. Leading by as many as 22 points in the second half, Ole Miss had the aggressive Tar Heels desperately rally to pull within 66-64 -- gutcheck time.

Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla, a cold-blooded shooter who had a game-high 20 points, made the game’s biggest shot: A 3-pointer from the left wing with 52.8 seconds remaining. That came after the Heels’ R.J. Davis drove the lane, took a hard foul as he made a left-handed shot and crashed to the floor.

Davis was down for a few moments, gingerly getting back to his feet and making the free throw to complete a 3-point play with 1:09 to play. It was 66-64 and all the pressure was on the Rebels, who had not trailed in the game.

But Pedulla, who had lost four of five games against UNC with the Hokies, made the 3. After Powell missed a 3 -- UNC finished 5-of-24 from the arc -- Pedulla was fouled and made two free throws for the final margin.

The Tar Heels, after a miserable first half, had a flashback to their early-season comebacks — and against No. 1 Duke in the ACC Tournament last week — and gamely got back into it.

“We started to trust each other more and everybody picked up their energy and their sense of urgency,” UNC’s Drake Powell said.

That came after a few blunt words from the head coach, Hubert Davis, at halftime, with the Heels facing a 44-26 deficit.

“He said we only have two choices,” Powell said. “We can continue to be embarrassed on national television or step up and change it.”

The Heels changed it. They made push after push, getting out in transition, making defensive stops and chopping away at the Ole Miss lead.

Heels lost Jae’Lyn Withers to a leg injury early in the second half. That was a collective body blow. But the Heels continued to push, getting within 11 points on a Powell 3-pointer midway through the half.

The Rebels answered. Whether it was Pedulla throwing in an off-balance shot and drawing a foul — Pedulla jumping up to defiantly cross his arms before the free throw — or Matthew Murrell getting off an inside shot that had the ball bounce two, three times on the rim and fall, the Rebels answered.

If Ole Miss had any first-game NCAA jitters, it didn’t show early. It’s a team with experience, size and sound structure, and that was a combination that, in the end, proved to be a little too much for the Tar Heels.

Davis, playing his last game for UNC after five stellar seasons in Chapel Hill, did all he could to keep the Heels in it in the first half with 10 of his 15 points. He was the one UNC player who appeared to play his game in the opening half, taking the jumper when it was there and attacking the basket when he saw an opening.

“We were really lifeless in the first half,” UNC’s Seth Trimble said. “We had no passion. We had no joy. We looked like the group we were a few months ago.”

Davis got little help in the opening half. While it was a homecoming for Trimble, a former Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin who grew up outside Milwaukee, he picked up two first-half fouls and mostly sat, although he was more assertive in the second half.

For UNC, it was a struggle to score baskets in the first half, often just to find a good shot. Or make free throws, adding to the frustration. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Rebels often would collect the rebound, run down and hit a 3.

Ole Miss, which had shot 34% from the arc this season, made six of its first seven 3-pointers Friday as it worked the ball well and freed up shooters.

Dre Davis, a senior guard, made three in a row. Senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield, who played a year at Duke, knocked down a pair of threes.

“They didn’t feel our presence,” Powell said. ”It was like they were running a shootaround in practice or something.”

The Tar Heels, the last team added to the NCAA field, ran up and down the court against San Diego State, collecting points in bunches in the First Four win in Dayton, Ohio. It would not be that way much of Friday’s game as a team that came to Milwaukee after winning nine of its last 11 games looked so unsure in the first half, almost shell shocked.

It did not help UNC that its halfcourt offense was strictly one and done. There were no offensive rebounds or putbacks for the Heels as the Rebels owned their defensive board. Missed shots, missed free throws, unsure ballhandling — it was that kind of opening half for the Heels.

Davis ordered up an early timeout after the Rebels broke out to an early 11-2 lead. The Heels steadied a bit but the Rebels kept coming at them, playing some bully basketball.

“In regards to physicality, they not only won in the first half, they dominated us,” Hubert Davis said.

On a couple of possessions, Rebels big man Malik Dia, a 6-9 junior, used his 250 pounds to simply power through Washington in the paint.

“But coming out in the second half, we had the feeling we had been in this position before,” UNC’s Ven-Allen Lubin said. “We got it to a one-possession game and we believed we were stronger and could pull through. But …”

This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 6:27 PM with the headline "End of the line: UNC basketball falls to Ole Miss in first round of NCAA Tournament."

Chip Alexander

The News & Observer

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In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.