The Ole Miss Rebels are the Southeastern Conference tournament champions after defeating No.1 seed Florida 66-63 on Sunday. With the win, Ole Miss clinches an automatic birth in the NCAA Tournament.
Murphy Holloway led the Rebels with a game-high 23 points. Marshall Henderson aided the cause with 21 points of his own. The win marks the first NCAA tournament birth for head coach Andy Kennedy, as well as his first SEC championship.
"So much is made about the NCAA tournament," Kennedy told ESPN. "I was just glad to get the albatross that is the NCAA tournament off the neck of our program so people can now exhale and get a new focal point."
The Rebels have won seven of eight grabbing their first tournament title since 1981 and second in school history. Many believed that Ole Miss would need a strong performance in the conference tourney to gain a birth in the March Madness tournament and making the final round would have been enough. Sunday's win was the icing on the cake.
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