Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Rebs Face Missouri in Miami


Ole Miss (37-24) advanced to its sixth consecutive NCAA Regional on Monday when the field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament was announced, and the Rebels will open tournament play against Missouri (38-19) on Friday, May 30 at 11 a.m. CDT.

The Rebels are a three seed in the Miami Regional while Missouri is the two seed. Also competing in the regional are host and ACC Champion Miami (46-8), the nation’s top overall seed, and fourth seeded Bethune-Cookman (36-20), who won the MEAC Championship.

All-Tournament ticket packages range from $35 for youth/senior general admission to $45 for adults to $70 for reserved chairbacks. Single-day passes for Friday through Sunday cost from $10 to $20 and $8 to $16 for Monday, if necessary. Tickets may be ordered online at hurricanesports.com or by calling the Miami ticket office at 1-800-GO-CANES.

“Everyone who has played Miami this season has said they are the best team in the country, so it will be a huge challenge to go to their regional,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “But the thing about this tournament is you have to go somewhere and play someone good.

“They have a great stadium down there in Miami and they will draw well. They have a great atmosphere.”

OIe Miss is coming off a stellar run at the SEC Tournament where the Rebels were the first eight-seed to advance to the Championship Game. Ole Miss fell to No. 9 LSU 8-2 in Sunday’s game. It was the third time in the past four seasons the Rebels have advanced to the SEC Tournament Championship Game. Ole Miss won the 2006 SEC Tournament.
The Rebels defeated three top 25 teams on the way to the Championship game in No. 6 Georgia, No. 19 Kentucky and No. 21 Vanderbilt before falling to No. 9 LSU on Sunday.

Ole Miss faced 10 teams who advanced to this year’s NCAA Tournament including road trips to TCU a two game set with Southern Miss and a pair of home games against Western Kentucky. The Rebels also faced eight teams from the SEC who advanced to the NCAA Tournament, including national seeds Georgia and LSU. Ole Miss went 2-2 against both Georgia and LSU this season.

The Rebels and Missouri have faced off six times in the history of the program with the teams holding a 3-3 record all-time. The last time the two teams met was in 1987 with the Rebels taking a three-game series in Oxford two games to one.
The games at the Miami Regional will be televised by ESPNU.

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