TRANSCRIPT: Everything Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said after Rebels’ loss to Alabama

OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss men’s basketball team put on a strong offensive performance, shooting over 50 percent from the field in a game for the seventh time this season, however, it wasn’t enough to top No. 13 Alabama on Wednesday night in the SJB Pavilion as they fell 103-88.

After the game, head coach Chris Beard talked with media about the Rebels’ performance. 

Chris Beard’s Opening Statement

“I thought in terms of the basketball game, the first half was one of our better halves all season. It one of our better 20-minute segments. So going into the game, in my mind I thought we needed to score 90 points to win this game and probably needed to make 9 or 10 threes. 

“(Alabama guard Mark) Sears is an SEC player of the year candidate, no doubt. I knew we were going to get their best shot tonight. It’s basically a championship-type game for them as they try to win the league. The difference in the game, I thought, was just the number of shots. You know, you get 20 more shots on goal. And so how do they get it done? 14 offensive rebounds. It’s just a non-negotiable for us, and then we turned the ball over too much. So turning the ball over and then giving them extra possessions on the offensive glass was the shot-attempted discrepancy. So that really hurt us. 

“And I thought in the second half, the start of the second half, um. I saw our confidence kind of got shook there a little bit early and then we fought back. We kind of kept it a two-possession game for a while, then just didn’t have enough in us late. So I thought we did a lot of really good things tonight against, again, a team that’s got a chance to win the league. Just got some things that — our margin for error just isn’t that great. So we can’t give up 14 offensive rebounds; we can’t turn the ball over 15 times when you’re playing against one of the best teams in the country.”

Question: You mentioned the end just then, you guys, I think it was nine and a half or so to go and you tied it up. There was a kind of a six-minute swing there after that where they just kind of dominated. Was there anything that you saw in those six minutes that stood out?

Coach Beard: “Untimely turnovers, a couple of wasted offensive possessions, lack of execution, fatigue, whatever you want to call it. Ball just kind of stuck on a night where we were really getting anything we wanted offensively when we got the ball reversed and made a couple passes.

“Again, we shoot over 50% from the floor. We shoot mid-30s from three. We got to the free throw line more than them, so it was the offensive formula to have a chance to win the game. We just can’t we can’t overcome 14 offensive rebounds given up, 14 or 15 turnovers. And I thought in some of those spurts, in my opinion Alabama, plays in spurts. 

“There’s ten four minute games in a college game. And if you just kind of study them like we have, you know they’re going to try to knock you out in a couple of those segments. And that’s exactly what they did.”

Question: They had a six-point play where Moussa got the flagrant one. Did you get an explanation on what that was?

Coach Beard: “No I didn’t, and that’s frustrating sometimes from a coaching standpoint. But we’ll just keep doing the best we can. I tried to get an explanation, but couldn’t get one on that one.”

Question: Chris, what led to the starting lineup change tonight?

Coach Beard: “It’s an internal thing with the team. So, leave it at that.”

Question: Chris, you mentioned that Jaemyn was suffering a wrist injury over the weekend. How is he doing now?

Coach Beard: “I thought he played with a lot of courage tonight. He hasn’t been able to practice in between these games. We let the risk kind of flare back down. And then he’s able to get some game shots up on the day before the game. So, no excuse program. Our doctors are doing a great job with him. Our trainers are doing a great job, but Brake deserves most of the credit. You know, he’s playing banged up, but that’s no different than every team in the country right now that has a guy or two that’s banged up a little bit. But I thought his heart was in the right place tonight. Obviously he’s got to play better. Everybody’s got to play better. We got to coach better as well.”

Question: Chris, look at defensive efforts against some of the better teams on their schedule. I mean, obviously, I’m sure the pace played into the 103 tonight, but how would you evaluate those efforts for your teams?

Coach Beard: “I thought the first half was one of our better 20-minute segments on the season. We made some mistakes, but I thought we were very aggressive. We were dialed in, and I thought effort was an all-time high, and we had guys making plays. The second half, we just had those lows where we had some missed assignments. Many of their three point shots tonight weren’t manufactured by their offense. They were manufactured by our mistakes. 

“But give them credit, they had the spacing and the talent out there to force the mistakes. But again, the basketball thing tonight, you can’t give up that many offensive rebounds combined with that many turnovers. When the other team shoots 20 more times than you do, you know it’s not going to be a formula for success against one of the best teams in the country.”

Question: The offensive rebounding issue has been a common problem. Is there a reason why that hasn’t been able to get fixed in your opinion?

Coach Beard: “Fair question. And, you know, it’s discipline. We work it every day. We talk about it. Our team’s prepared, our players put in the work in the film room and scouting reports. But when you get out there, you’ve got to make the play. 

“And, you know, their off guard who’s a special player, because as a guard in this league, he’s an offensive rebounder. He must have had 4 or 5 tonight. Those are all timely mistakes. So a lot of it you know it’s just discipline doing the right thing time and time again. You know, shot goes up, check your man. No man to check, double block out. Rebound down. Go get a 50-50 ball. Wedge block out, face block out. Communicate on block outs. And so a lot of it — and trust me, we’ve studied this — a lot of it is just we have to make that play, and we just don’t make it.”

Question: You got a big game coming up on Saturday, what do you tell your team to kind of get their confidence back after three consecutive losses?

Coach Beard: “Yeah, they’re all big. Every game is big. I don’t think I’ve ever used that terminology in my whole coaching career. It’s a big game and they’re all big. You know, Bill Russell said it best. “The biggest game you’ve ever competed in is the next game on the schedule.”… But that’s just true. Like how can you feel any different? And our plan will be consistent with what we believe in. 

“We’ll just get back to work. Training room tonight, get some sleep, get back in the film room. Own it. A lot of good things to look at in the film room tomorrow, too. You know, I’ll repeat, I thought our first 20 minutes tonight was good, clean basketball. I feel like if we played like that for 40, we could play with anybody in the league. 

“Just get back to work. I mean, it’s all you can do. You know, nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. And you just got to get back to work. And one of many reasons that I’ve really enjoyed coaching this team is that our guys have a pretty short tum memory. You guys have seen it, you’ve been at the games. We’ve had some highs and we’ve had some lows and this team has responded really well. 

“I love coaching these guys. I believe in them. I hurt for them. This team really, really wants to win the game on the scoreboard, I promise you that. And we had a couple of good days of practice this week, and I thought we started the game really well. And, the end of the first half, they went on one of those runs. But I didn’t think that was our lack of effort or our lack of want to. You know, it’s just a really good team. The second half, it just got away from us for all the things we’ve talked about here.”

Question: Under 40% shooting, and then second half to come out, shoot 61%. First of all, kind of what did you feel like the biggest difference was there? And second of all, just a team like Alabama. How hard is it to hold them down for 40 minutes like that?

Coach Beard: I don’t think anybody’s going to hold Alabama down for 40 minutes. But you know, again, you try to respond to their runs. There’s a difference between a 16 to 5 run and maybe a, you know a 10 to 4 run. And so it got away from us a couple times in some of those segments. When you think about those segments, it’s just untimely mistakes. Your offense has to help your defense when you play against an offensive team like Alabama. And again, our turnovers tonight, our lack of block outs on the other end — you know it’s an interesting kind of stat sheet to study. I thought in the first half we rebounded better. You know we have we have a lead at halftime.”