Based on the 8/9 seeding, the tournament selection committee felt the resumes of these two teams were fairly similar, and the statistical comparison of the Sooners and the Rebels bears this out.
The two teams will meet in one of the early morning games on Friday (11:40 CDT on truTV) at Colonial Life Arena.
Mississippi (20-12, 10-8) is a slight favorite in the game, according to the Las Vegas oddsmakers. The Rebels, like the Sooners, were projected to finish at the back end of the Southeastern Conference this season, but defied the naysayers, by ending up tied for sixth in the 14-team SEC with a 10-8 league record.