PROVO — After much anxiety for BYU coaches, players and fans, the Cougars' name was called by the Selection Committee to play in the NCAA tournament. BYU will face off against the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday night. Here are five things you should know about the Rebels.

They almost beat Kentucky and have some good wins

Ole Miss played Kentucky as well as anyone has this season. The Rebels were able to force overtime on the road against the still-undefeated Wildcats. Aside from the Kentucky game, Ole Miss has beaten some quality opponents, as they knocked off Arkansas (20th RPI), Oregon (27th RPI) and Cincinnati (37th RPI). The loss to Kentucky and the wins over quality opponents are proof that when the Rebels are on, they are a tough team to beat.

They have lost a lot of close games

Like BYU, Ole Miss lost a lot of close games that could have gone either way. Of their 12 losses, only one (at LSU) was by double digits. Otherwise, the Rebels have lost by one (twice), two, three, four (three times), five, seven, eight, and nine. Ole Miss is a few bad bounces away from having a much better record and possibly a higher seed.

They are inefficient on offense

Overall, Ole Miss is scoring a respectable 72.6 points per game on the season, which is good for 52nd best in the nation. However, the team is very inefficient in how they score. Their top two scorers, Stefan Moody and Jarvis Summers, are both making well below 40 percent of their shots. Summers in particular has had a rough season shooting the ball, as he is only making 34 percent of his shots overall and an anemic 26 percent of his threes. As a team, the Rebels are making just over 42 percent of their shots, which puts them in 223rd place in the nation in terms of field goal percentage.

They don’t play a lick of defense

BYU shooters should be licking their chops for an opportunity to play a defense like the Rebels field. Ole Miss is giving up 67.5 points per game (good for 200th best in the nation) and at least 70 points in six of their last eight contests. This does not bode well for the Rebels as they will face one of the best offenses in the nation in BYU.

They are skidding

During the middle of SEC conference play, the Rebels were playing very good basketball. After almost knocking off Kentucky, Ole Miss won 10 of 13 conference games, including a big win on the road at then No. 19 Arkansas. Lately, however, the Rebels have been skidding as they have lost four of their last five contests, including a heartbreaking early exit in the SEC conference tournament.

Prediction

BYU has been hot, of late. The Cougars have won 10 of their last 12 games and are just a few weeks removed from arguably the best win in Coach Dave Rose’s tenure against Gonzaga. Ole Miss has been tanking, lately and will struggle to contain a fast paced BYU offense. I predict the Cougars will win 80-70.

Dylan Cannon is a regular KSL.com contributor and can be reached at DylanCannon86@gmail.com or via twitter @DylanCannon11. Listen to his weekly podcast, "Cougar Talk," on iTunes.

Related topics