That will do it for our coverage of Xavier and Ole Miss. Join me again in an hour for live coverage of Stephen F. Austin and Utah.
Final: Xavier 76, Ole Miss 57
2nd (0:15): Larry Austin with the finish for Xavier. A long three on the other end is missed. Xavier 76-57
2nd (0:55): Myles Davis sinks another three. White with the three on the other end. 74-57 Xavier
2nd (1:26): Sean O'Mara to the line. His first shot is misses. The second shot is good. 71-54 Xavier
2nd (1:26): Saiz is called for a foul as this game is just about over.
2nd (1:51): James Farr goes to the line. He first shot rolls off. The second shot is missed.
2nd (2:20): Stainbrook with the tough angle shot off the glass. 70-54 Xavier
2nd (2:48): Newby with the steal but he cannot finish the fast break
2nd (3:20): Moody with the runner. 68-54 Xavier
2nd (3:32): Dee Davis makes the front end of a one-and-one. His second shot is no good. 68-52 Xavier
Media Timeout: Xavier 67, Ole Miss 52
2nd (3:49): Timeout Xavier
2nd (4:23): Stainbrook with a beautiful feed to the cutting guard for the easy layup. 67-52 Xavier
2nd (4:48): Rhett finishes the bucket on a fast break. 65-52 Xavier
2nd (5:23): Myles Davis with some sweet jazz from downtown. 65-50 Xavier
2nd (6:02): Moody draws a foul on the drive to the bucket.
2nd (6:15): Stainbrook drives to the bucket and finishes with the left hand. Timeout Xavier. 62-50 Xavier
2nd (6:52): Moody finishes on the fast break. 60-50 Xavier
2nd (7:18): A followup jam for Ole Miss. 60-48 Xavier
2nd (7:35): Abell's free throw attempt is good. 60-46 Xavier
Media Timeout: Xavier 59, Ole Miss 46
2nd (7:35): Remy Abell finishes on the fast break AND draws the foul. He will shoot the free throw after the media timeout.
2nd (8:20): Rhett with another bucket down low. 57-46 Xavier
2nd (8:39): Ole Miss is still hanging around after a deuce off the inbounds play. Reynolds goes strong to the bucket but is fouled on the dunk attempt. His first shot is no good. The second shot is good. 57-44 Xavier
2nd (9:37): A nice feed from Stainbrook down to Reynolds who is fouled hard. His first attempt is no good. The second attempt is good. 55-42 Xavier
2nd (10:02): Newby with the steal and the finish for Ole Miss. 55-42 Xavier
2nd (10:30): Dee Davis picks up his third foul. Another foul called on Davis right there, his fourth foul.
Media Timeout: Xavier 55, Ole Miss 40
2nd (11:10): MISSED DUNK! Aaron Jones had a good look inside but is stuffed by the rim.
2nd (12:04): Ole Miss scores on one end but Xavier answers with a three. Smith hits a three for Ole Miss. 55-40 Xavier
2nd (13:13): THREE! James Farr steps back and sinks a long-range shot. Trevon Bluiett comverts on a fast break after a missed shot from Ole Miss. 52-35 Xavier
2nd (13:51): Farr misses an easy layup for Xavier but Ole Miss cannot capitalize on the other end.
2nd (14:52): Moody hits a three, can that be the jumpstart for Ole Miss? 47-35 Xavier
Media Timeout: Xavier 45, Ole Miss 32
2nd (15:13): Jalen Reynolds sees his dunk attempt blocked out of bounds. It will be Xavier ball after the media timeout.
2nd (15:59): M.J. Rhett makes a jumper from the free throw line. 45-32 Xavier
2nd (16:18): Moody to the line, he makes the first. The second shot attempt is good. 45-30 Xavier
2nd (16:38): M.J. Rhett with the throwdown after an offensive rebound on a missed three. Stainbrook just made a great putback and he was called for a technical foul for taunting. 45-28 Xavier
2nd (17:53): THREE! Dee Davis with another triple and this game is getting out of hand. 43-26 Xavier. Timeout Ole Miss
2nd (18:27):A tip-in off the missed bucket for Xavier. Xavier 40-26
2nd (20:00): Ole Miss brings the ball in and we are underway in the second half.
Don't know about you but we are still buzzing over that Georgia State finish from earlier.
Halftime: Xavier 36, Ole Miss 24
1st (0:00): Ladarius White draws the foul on a shot with less than a second to go. His first shot is no good. The second shot is good. 36-24 Xavier
1st (1:02): Ole Miss goes to the line and cannot make the front end of the one and one. They retain possession as the ball is tipped out of bounds on the missed free throw.
1st (1:20): Both teams exchange buckets. 36-23 Xavier
1st (2:47): Stainbrook is called for his second foul.
Media Timeout: Xavier 34, Ole Miss 21
1st (3:38): DEE DAVIS from downtown! 34-21 Xavier
1st (4:02): White with the hook shot in the lane. 31-21 Xavier
1st (4:14): The pace is picking up with great defensive plays on both ends of the court.
1st (4:43): Jalen Reynolds is forced to rush a shot as the shot clock runs down, he misses and Ole Miss takes possession.
1st (5:08): Timeout Xavier
1st (5:40): Another Ole Miss turnover leads to a foul on Trevon Bluiett, his first free throw attempt is good. His second attempt is good. 31-19 Xavier
1st (5:57): James Farr is called for traveling on the next Xavier possession
1st (6:32): James Farr to the line. His first shot is good. His second shot is no good. 29-19 Xavier
1st (6:53): Ole Miss with a followup bucket on the offensive rebound. 28-19 Xavier
1st (7:15): Dee Davis goes up and is fouled by Moody. His first free throw attempt is good. The second attempt is good. 28-17 Xavier
1st (7:48): Stainbrook makes the first free throw. His second shot is good. 26-17 Xavier
Media Timeout: Xavier 24, Ole Miss 17
1st (7:48): Anthony Perez called for a foul going for an offensive rebound after the missed three from Stefan Moody. That brings us to the media timeout.
1st (8:54): Stainbrook with the left-handed layup and the foul. His free throw attempt is good. 24-17 Xavier
1st (8:57): Scramble under the basket after a missed Xavier shot goes out of bounds. Xavier keeps possession.
1st (10:00): White with the floater to the bucket. MOODY! Moody hits a three-pointer after a missed shot from Xavier. 21-17 Xavier
1st (10:46): THREE! Macura sinking a three pointer in transition. Aaron Jones makes a short-range shot on the other end. 21-12 Xavier
Media Timeout: Xavier 18, Ole Miss 10
1st (11:56): DUNK! Jalen Reynolds finds space in the post and throws one down! Ladarius White answers with a three pointer on the other end. 18-10 Xavier
1st (12:20): Ole Miss finally breaks their scoring slump. 16-7 Xavier
1st (12:45): Stainbrook with the spin move in the post and the finish. 16-5 Xavier
1st (13:35): Dee Davis steps up and sinks another triple. 14-5 Xavier
1st (13:59): Moody climbed the ladder but could not throw down the alley-oop. Turnover for Ole Miss.
1st (14:07): A tough call there for Ole Miss as a foul is called before the shot clock violation would have occured. The officials are looking at the monitor.
1st (14:43): Moody with the drive on the fast break but he is called for traveling. That kid is fast.
1st (14:53): Ole Miss coming out with some traps in the backcourt on the next defensive possession
Media Timeout: Xavier 11, Ole Miss 5
1st (15:20): Stefan Moody with the drive to the bucket and the finish. 11-5 Xavier.
1st (15:34): THREE! Remy Abell steps into a three pointer and Ole Miss calls a timeout. 11-3 Xavier
1st (16:17): Stainbrook gathers the offensive board and finishes on a putback. 8-3 Xavier
1st (16:38): Dee Davis sinks an open three for Xavier. 6-3 Xavier
1st (17:22): M.J. Rhett was called for both of the early Ole Miss fouls. That is a big loss to have him on the bench.
1st (17:45): Stainbrook takes the bump and makes the bucket. His free throw attempt is good. 3-3
1st (18:06): THREE! Newby from distance to get Ole Miss on the board. 3-0 Ole Miss
1st (19:19): Foul early as Matt Stainbrook looks to shoot from the post. He is hacked and that will be the first team foul for Ole Miss
1st (20:00): Ole Miss wins the tip and we are underway
Xavier is wearing all-white, Ole Miss is in all-red.
What an incredible day so far and hey, we are still in the morning session of Day 1!
Welcome back! We are just about nine minutes to tip-off. What are your thoughts about game today?
We will be back in just a moment.
Alright it is time to turn our attentions to our game now. The winner of which will play against Georgia State in the third round on Saturday
Good luck topping that finish.
What a finish! Two #3 seeds are out!
2nd (0:00): MISSED!!! GEORGIA STATE WINS!!!!!
A 13-0 run for Georgia State!
2nd (0:02): THREE!!!! R.J. HUNTER FROM DEEP!!!! Georgia State 57, Baylor 56! WHAT A SHOT!!!
2nd (0:14): The first shot is no good!
2nd (0:19): Turnover! Wow! Georgia State gets fouled and will head to the line. A huge free throw for Isaiah Dennis. His first attempt is good! The second attempt is missed! Baylor 56, Georgia State 54. Baylor's best free-throw shooter grabs the rebound and he will go to the line.
So here we are with some bonus coverage ahead of our game.
2nd (0:32): A floater is missed by a big offensive rebound from Georgia State, they will go to the line after a foul. He missed the front end of the one-and-one! A quick foul brings Georgia State to six team fouls. Timeout Baylor
2nd (0:43): A shot clock violation on Baylor! Georgia State has a chance to tie!
A big steal leads to a layup for Georgia State. It is 56-53 Baylor with 1:07 to go. Timeout Baylor
Georgia State is chipping away. It is now a 5-point game with 1:28 left. Georgia State is out of timeouts.
And welcome in to VAVEL USA and our live coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The game before ours is winding down right now with Baylor holding a 56-46 lead with 2:15 to go.
WHY XAVIER WILL WIN: The Musketeers were good when they needed to be late in the season, played a ton of close games along the way and went 8-7 against the tournament field. Xavier, No. 6 in the West, has size at almost every position. Tough post player, and 6-foot-9 sophomore Jalen Reynolds, who averages 6.2 rebounds. The Musketeers also shoot three-pointers well (34.9%), which makes them a tough defensive assignment.
WHY OLE MISS WILL WIN: After struggling down the stretch and nearly playing their way out of the tournament, the Rebels showed signs of getting back to their early season form in Tuesday's First Four game in Dayton. Ole Miss will battle test Xavier for rebounds, and will keep a close match in scoring.
Ole Miss survived a very good shooting game from the Cougars who shot 48.3% from the floor while making 15 shots from beyond the arc.
M.J. Rhett scored 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the center position. Jarvis Summers scored 11 points while Sebastian Saiz, Martavious Newby, and Ladarius White each added 10 points.
Ole Miss had six players finish in double-figures led by the 26 points from Stefan Moody. It seemed as though every time a big play came for the Rebels, it was Moody who was a part of it whether it was scoring or assisting.
Slowly though, the Rebels kept themselves in the game before eventually pulling out a 94-90 win over the Cougars. It was a very exciting game to watch as a neutral supporter.
It was a spectacular effort from Ole Miss on Tuesday as they fell down to a 49-32 halftime lead for BYU.
Ole Miss came into that tournament as a 12-seed. This year, they came in as an 11-seed but were forced to Dayton to play in the First Four.
Ole Miss is making their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and their first since 2013. They defeated the Wisconsin Badgers in the second round during that year before falling to La Salle in the third round.
Trevon Bluiett: 6-foot-6 forward. Bluiett played well down the stretch but really hit a wall in the Big East Tournament. He scored only 22 points in the three games for Xavier during that competition. His shooting took a big dip as well down to 6-of-21 during those three games.
Matt Stainbrook: 6-foot-10 center. Stainbrook will need to establish himself in the post. He leads the team in scoring and rebounds with 12.0 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game. Ole Miss has a plethora of big bodies on their team but Stainbrook really is the only big option down low for Xavier
Two players to watch for the Xavier Musketeers:
Xavier has a very good shooting team this year hitting 47.3% of their shots. That mark is good for 29th in the nation. Their season average of 73.6 points per game ranks them 43rd in the nation. One of the other interesting stats is how unselfish the Musketeers have been. They average 16.4 points per game, which is good for 9th in the country.
The Musketeers come into today’s game with a 6-3 record against Top 25 teams this year, though Ole Miss is not a Top 25 team. Ironically, Xavier’s three losses all came against Villanova this season.
It was very interesting to see the seeding in the Big East Conference from the Selection Committee. As good as the conference was this year, it seems like some of the teams may have been overseeded. This could be due to reputation of the conference name. Georgetown likely should have seeded a little lower as well as teams like Butler and Xavier. That discussion is for another day.
From that point on, they did have some good wins over Providence, Butler (x2), and Georgetown but they did suffer four losses in that span as well. They lost twice each to St. John’s and Villanova, the second Villanova loss came in the Big East Championship Game.
Xavier had been a bubble team in recent weeks of VAVEL Bracketology starting with their loss to Creighton back on February 4th.
The Musketeers have fared well recently in the NCAA Tournament as they have make the Sweet Sixteen in four of their last six appearances. Unfortunately they were out after their first game in those other two appearances.
Xavier is making their 25th appearance in the NCAA Tournament overall and their 13th appearance since 2001.
The winner of our game today will face the winner of the game going on right now between Baylor and Georgia State. We will keep you posted on the score of that game.
Good afternoon and welcome to VAVEL USA’s live coverage of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Our game this afternoon is part of the West Region as the Ole Miss Rebels (21-12) take on the Xavier Musketeers (21-13) from the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. My name is Matthew Evans and I will be your host for today’s game.