2015 NCAA Tournament Preview: No. 11 BYU Cougars vs. No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels

By Tim Letcher
James Snook, USA TODAY SPORTS
James Snook, USA TODAY SPORTS

The BYU Cougars and the Ole Miss Rebels were two of the last teams selected for the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Now, they will face each other in Dayton on Tuesday with a chance to advance.

BYU is 25-9 on the season, but does have an impressive win over Gonzaga. The Cougars had an eight-game winning streak snapped by the Zags in the West Coast Conference tournament.

Ole Miss had to sweat it out a bit to see if they would even be in the field after losing to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. But Andy Kennedy has his team back in the field, and they deserve to be there. Ole Miss has good wins over the Cincinnati Bearcats, the Oregon Ducks and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

What to Watch For

Tyler Haws is a big-time scorer for BYU. He averages 21.9 points per game and has gone for at least 30 points four times this season. Kyle Collinsworth has had an amazing season, posting six triple-doubles this year.

Ole Miss is a perimeter-oriented team. Stefan Moody leads the team in scoring at 16.3 points per game. His back court mates Jarvis Summers (12.4 points per game) and Ladarius White (11.2 ppg) are the only other double figure scorers.

Prediction

With Haws and Collinsworth, BYU will be tough to stop in this game. Ole Miss would need to get hot from outside, then hold its own on the boards to hang in this game. The Rebels didn’t play well late in the season and there’s no reason to think they can suddenly find their “A” game again.

BYU 81, Ole Miss 74

Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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