Ole Miss men’s basketball only remaining unbeaten SEC team
OXFORD, Miss. — With South Carolina’s loss tonight to No. 24 Clemson, the Rebels will maintain sole possession of first place in the SEC. Ole Miss (8-0) is now the only undefeated team remaining with five non-conference games still to play before opening SEC play at Tennessee.
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The Rebels’ next game is at Central Florida this Sunday at 3:00 CST, then they’re back home for their next four games. Ole Miss will be Central Florida’s second matchup against a Power 5 team since joining the Big 12, with the Knights having lost their first one to Miami-Florida, 88-72.
Coach Beard looking for more discipline from his team
Although Ole Miss is undefeated, you likely won’t catch head coach Chris Beard crowing about that. In fact, after his team’s 77-68 win over Mount St. Mary’s Tuesday night, Coach Beard was not at all pleased with his team’s performance.
Here’s what he had to say after the win.
“I think the biggest gift you can give somebody is to have high expectations…I have high expectations for our attendance, for our crowd, our season ticket holders, and our students…I have an expectation for Ole Miss basketball that there will come a day sooner than most people think that every game will be sold out, not just when we play a big team…And with our basketball team, I expect us to play Ole Miss basketball. I don’t expect us to make every shot…I don’t expect for everything to go our way…I just expect that we are all on the same page with what we’re trying to get done…and I didn’t think that was the case tonight. I am not going to change that (expectations). We came here to win at the highest level and nights like tonight weren’t the step forward that we needed. We had an opportunity to show we could respond from a a great week last week with two BCS wins, to show that we could overcome adversity this week….but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. We had chances to blow the game open, but again it just comes down to mistakes — and not basketball mistakes. A lot of our stuff right now is just lack of discipline. Before you can ever start talking about discipline, are we on the same page, do we all have the same expectations? These are questions you guys should ask the players. Maybe they’re happy winning games by 10 points. Maybe they’re happy beating teams at the buzzer. I’m not. I just have a ridiculous high expectation for these guys because I believe in them. To me it’s the biggest gift you can give someone when you expect their best and tonight was not our best. No disrespect to our opponent…that’s a good team. I have a lot of respect for their team. They played the game for 40 minutes.”
Coach Chris Beard
What’s next?
The remaining non-conference home schedule for the Rebels includes California, Troy, Southern Miss and Bryant. The SEC opener at Tennessee is scheduled for Saturday, January 6th.
David Walker
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
