NEW YORK - Ole Miss basketball players had a trimmed-down itinerary for their sight-seeing day in New York City Sunday.

Overcast conditions with start-and-stop misty rain had the Rebels back at their Times Square hotel a little early.

The Rebels are in town for the NIT semifinals. Second-seeded Ole Miss will take on third-seeded Dayton on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Madison Square Garden. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

The Rebels will practice at a local college today, and a handful of them will attend the media day at the hotel. Ole Miss will not practice inside the Garden until Tuesday's walk-through.

The weather was more cooperative two years ago. Sunday's bus stopped at the same sights, Ground Zero where the new towers are under construction, and Battery Park, an area to view the Statue of Liberty without ferrying out to it.

Two years ago players lingered at Battery Park in sunshine. This time they snapped a team picture with Lady Liberty in the background and got back on the bus.

"It's really nice just to be here and see it," sophomore center Murphy Holloway said. "I've seen it in movies a lot, but seeing it here in person is really cool."

While the itinerary was the same as it was two years ago, the roster is not. Only juniors Chris Warren, Eniel Polynice and Zach Graham were a part of that team.

Players had free time to explore whatever they could walk to Sunday evening. They were required to be back for a 10 p.m., team meeting.

Most of the players are seeing New York for the first time.

"It's not anything like Monroe," said sophomore Terrance Henry, referencing his Louisiana hometown.