Some highlights from a Tuesday afternoon basketball presser ...

Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy

Does the team that wins the first game have an advantage in the second game?

“I'd like to tell you we figured out the code to beat them, but not much. Mississippi State is going to be a difficult challenge. They're good. They've got good players. Rick knows what he's doing. It's going to be in an away environment. Statistics say your chances for winning away from home are not nearly as good when you're in your own building. We realize it's going to be difficult.”

Kennedy says the teams are not the same ones that played on Jan. 18 when Ole Miss won 75-67 in Oxford.

“They've made some changes since the last time we played. We've made some changes since the last time we played.”

Players able to put the Alabama loss behind them?

“After a tough, emotional loss, I was thinking, I need to do something to put things in perspective, let them know there's a lot of basketball to play for, that maybe their spirits were down. Then it sounded like Mardi Gras out there. Kids are pretty resilient. They're moving on to the next day. They probably didn't have as tough a Sundy as the old head coach did.”

Senior forward Terrance Henry

Henry disagrees with his coach and says having won the first game is an advantage.

“Once you win the first one you kind of have the upper hand. We know the calls, we know exactly what they're going to do. It's just a matter of us going in there and playing like we did the last time.”

Henry, at 6-foot-9, will again guard MSU point guard Dee Bost. That matchup worked in the Rebels' favor in Round 1. Bost had tormented the Rebels through the years. He finished with 15 points but was just 4-for-15 shooting and never took over the game.

Henry said Bost was surprised to see him come out to guard him when State grabbed the opening tip.

“It was tip-off, and this was so funny to me, because he's a funny guy. He got the ball, and he saw me come out to guard him, and he had this smirk on his face like, 'Really?' He looked, and I was like, 'Dang, he disrespected me.' I'm glad we pulled out the win.

“Me and him was just jawing back and forth. Most of the time I was just telling him, 'I'm not fixing to let you catch the ball. I was telling him, 'They fixing to play 4-on-4, and you and me fixing to be over here chilling.'”