Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard offers thoughts ahead of Arkansas game

FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 22 Ole Miss men’s basketball team is in Fayetteville tonight to face Arkansas in the Rebels’ first SEC road matchup of this season.

Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard met with media earlier this week as the Rebels (12-2, 1-0 SEC) prepare to take on the Razorbacks (11-3, 0-1). Here are some of Coach Beard’s comments on the upcoming game.

On Arkansas’ roster this season:

“Yeah, I would say even though it’s Coach Cal’s first year at Arkansas, the team and the roster has his DNA all over it. You know, you’ve got talented players, some guys on his team that’ll play in the NBA. You’ve got a balance between veterans, mostly portal guys and then some young talent, athletic, definitely the ability to play off the dribble, get downhill. Defensively, three legitimate shot blockers on this Arkansas team. So, I mean you watch the team play, it looks like a Coach Cal team even though it’s their first year.”

On how he prepares his team to go up against a team with the size that Arkansas has and how they try to dictate tempo:

“Um, definitely got to have strategy with their length and size, legitimate size and athleticism around the basket. So absolutely, that’s a focal point of the game plan. You know when to help, when not to help. When to stay connected, when to be in rotations, things like that. That’s no secret. You know, in terms of pace of play, we’ve just got to get to the point where our offense helps our defense and our defense helps our offense. So there’s different tempos to play depending on, you know, where you’re playing, who you’re playing, time and score. But I think we’re trying to get our guys to understand our pace is dictated a lot by what’s going on with the game.”

On what is a key to working through the week-by-week grind of an SEC schedule

“It’s very similar to when I was in the Big 12 for all those years. But one thing about this league is, you know, it sounds kind of coaching speak, but it really is true. You’ve got to kind of have a short-term memory after a win or a loss. You know, you’ve got to kind of stay the course. You know, I would argue that every team is going to have some ups and downs. It’s going to be the teams that are probably most consistent that have a chance to be competitive as the conference race goes on. So with that in mind, you know, there’s a poise, there’s a maturity, there’s just an understanding that each game is going to bring a different opportunity, very similar to some other leagues we’ve coached in the past. It’s a very physical league. I don’t envy the job that the officials have in this league. It’s, um, you know, years ago, you thought of the the SEC as an athletic league, which it still is. But the physicality matches the athleticism every night. So, not not an easy league to officiate in. Not an easy league to compete in because literally on every possession there’s something going on with physical contact. So one thing we try to explain to our guys is it’s going to be a physical battle each game. You got to seek contact, you got to demand fouls, got to be disciplined in big moments. But that’s two things with the SEC this year in my opinion.”

On if there are any directives from the league this season about what officials will be calling in terms of contact, hand checks, etc.

“Yeah, this year, no real focal point, just reminders of what they’re looking for. You know, some years, obviously a couple years ago with the block charge, that was a big one, you know, trying to eliminate basically charges from college basketball. A couple years before that, it was freedom of movement on cutters. And but this year, to my knowledge, there were no major rule changes. You know, post defense is always an area of concern, but this year, no focal point that we all just said, ‘hey, the game just changed.’ So you know, really in our league it’s about trying to be disciplined. It’s about trying to show our hands on drives, understanding the physicality. Every time a shot goes up in an SEC game, there’s some pushing, there’s some pulling. And so we talked a lot of our guys about controlling what we can control. I really do recognize that the officiating in this league is really good. I’ve coached in some leagues where that wasn’t always the case. So those guys got a hard job. From a coaching standpoint, you know, all we really ask for is consistency, but so far, so good with that regard.”

Game info:

Tipoff for tonight’s game is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.