MILWAUKEE — Ole Miss kept the hammer down this time, and sped right into the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time in a generation.

Sean Pedulla led four Ole Miss players in double figures with 20 points and eight assists, and the sixth-seeded Rebels rolled past No. 3 Iowa State 91-78 in a second-round game in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region on Sunday.

“We came here to win a four-team tournament. So two down. It takes six to win the whole thing,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “Told the guys to enjoy this for half a day and we will get back to work tomorrow. We’re excited about our next opportunity in the Sweet 16.”

Ole Miss (24-11) advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend for the second time in school history. The other was in 2001. The Rebels will face No. 2 seed Michigan State (29-6) in Atlanta on Thursday or Friday night. Michigan State beat New Mexico 71-63 in the second round.

No. 1 seed Auburn will face No. 5 Michigan in the other South Region semifinal.

“Ole Miss winning the tournament, probable? No. Possible? Absolutely. Right now with our team, we’re watching the Coach Valvano special. And we’re not done yet,” Beard said. “Players are like, When are we going to finish? I’m like, We’re going to finish on Sunday night right before the Monday game.

“So it’s not arrogance, it’s absolute belief,” Beard added. “If I didn’t believe this team was capable of continuing to win games in this tournament, then I shouldn’t be the coach at Ole Miss.”

Ole Miss was among a record 14 Southeastern Conference teams that made the NCAA Tournament, and is one of seven — another record — who survived the first two rounds. It also had one of the most impressive weekends of all of them.

It was the seventh NCAA Tournament victory in school history for Ole Miss, and the largest margin of victory. Its previous record was an 11-point win over Wisconsin in the first round of the 2013 tournament.

Ole Miss had leads of 22 and 26 points in their first two games. It shot 58.2 percent (32-for-55) from the field against Iowa State, and was 11-for-19 from 3-point range.

“I think it’s everybody just buying in, coming in with all these transfers to Ole Miss, a lot of guys from different areas, different colleges, different teams,” said Ole Miss senior guard Davon Barnes. “And once you get it all together, how we all bought into our roles and the game plan, what Coach had for us. And ultimately the results show, once everybody buys in, that we can win.”

The Rebels did have a few hiccups, though. They blew most of a 22-point lead before hanging on to beat North Carolina 71-64 in the first round, then had some flashbacks in round two before finishing off Iowa State.

Ole Miss led 78-52 with 5:40 remaining. Iowa State made a strong push to cut it to 10, at 85-75, on a 3-pointer by Curtis Jones with 1:20 remaining, before the Rebels pulled themselves together.

After a timeout that included a heated pep talk from Beard, Matthew Murrell missed a layup on a long inbound pass, got the rebound and scored. Jaemyn Brakefield then got a steal on Iowa State’s next possession and sprinted down the floor to throw down an exclamation-point dunk that restored the Rebels’ lead to 89-75 with 59 seconds to go.

Murrell finished with 15 points and Brakefield scored 10. Malik Dia had 18 points and eight rebounds.

Jones had a game-high 26 points for Iowa State (25-10).

“We emphasized winning time, the last few minutes of the game, taking care of the ball, execute, whatever the coach is calling, trying to get the best shot we can,” Murrell said. “So I credit (Beard) for challenging us in practice to win in those moments and us going out there and executing it.”