The No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels (24-11, 10-8 SEC) and head coach Chris Beard set the tone for their NCAA Tournament run with two statement wins over the 11-seed North Carolina Tar Heels and a double-digit upset victory over the three-seed Iowa State Cyclones. Ole Miss defeated Iowa State with an impressive 91-78 final score in the Round of 32 in Milwaukee, WI, this past Sunday (March 23).
After taking two wins in the South Regional in Milwaukee last week, Ole Miss is bound for Atlanta, where it needs a couple more victories to reach the program's first-ever Final Four appearance this postseason.
Standing in Ole Miss's way of an Elite Eight berth in Atlanta this upcoming weekend is the two-seed Michigan State Spartans (29-6, 17-3 Big Ten) and longtime head coach Tom Izzo.
Beard has led the Rebels to their first Sweet Sixteen appearance in over two decades (since 2001).
Get Sean Pedulla going from the outside
Senior guard Sean Pedulla has been critical to Ole Miss's success in the SEC and clutch time in key Quad 1 and 2 games this postseason. He leads Ole Miss in scoring (over 15 points per game) and three-point field goal percentage (39.0), and has scored 20 points in back-to-back postseason games for the Rebels in the NCAA Tournament.
Pedulla has made a lot of clutch shots for the Rebels this postseason for the NCAA Tournament. He leads Ole Miss in clutch scoring this postseason, averaging over three clutch-time points per game in March Madness (per CBB Analytics).
When Ole Miss clamped down on Iowa State in the second half this past Sunday, Pedulla scored double-digit second-half points, including two important three-pointers to help the Rebels pull away from the Cyclones down the stretch.
Michigan State leads the nation in perimeter defense three-point field goal percentage allowed. The Spartans' standout guard trio of Jeremy Fears Jr., Tre Holloman, and Jase Richardson have been fantastic on the defensive end of the floor.
This should be a fantastic matchup between Pedulla and the Rebels' backcourt scoring against Michigan State's perimeter defense on Friday.
Disrupt Michigan State's guards on the perimeter on the defensive end
Michigan State's guards in the backcourt are the Spartans' tone setters on both ends of the floor. The length and switchability Michigan State boasts in its backcourt rotation translates to depth and clutch playmaking for Izzo and Co.
The four leading scorers over the past five games for the Spartans are all guards in the backcourt.
Guards Jaden Akins and Holloman helped the Spartans overcome slow starts against two double-digit seed teams in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this postseason. Akins and Holloman combined for 30 points in Michigan State's 81-73 win over 10-seed New Mexico in the second round last week.
Beard has proven that he is one of the best defensive minds among college head coaches left in the postseason. Ole Miss has held Quad 1 and 2 opponents 11 times under the 70-point final score mark in the regular season and March Madness this postseason.
Keep the Spartans off the free-throw line
Michigan State likes to run a controlled but attacking-style offensive playbook that relies on breaking down zone defenses and exploiting man-to-man matchups with two-man game and active off-ball movements going to the basket. The Spartans have multiple guards they can consistently rely on to score the basketball in the backcourt and from a couple of guys off the bench this postseason.
Izzo and the Spartans are 11-0 when they get to the line for over 25 free-throw attempts this past regular season and the postseason in March Madness.
On the counter, Ole Miss has multiple guards and forwards who can fight through physicality and contact to drive the lane and get to the basket. Being able to make tough shots and fight through contact to get to the rim and get contact to get easy points at the charity stripe will be key for Ole Miss against this physical and competitive Michigan State guard lineup this coming Friday.
Ole Miss showed it shouldn't be taken lightly this posteason in the NCAA Tournament after the tough and decisive win by over a dozen points against Iowa State and head coach TJ Otzelberger a few days ago in the second round.