Column | Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Showing Flashes of What They Can Be — And It’s Good
NEW YORK – Ole Miss entered Madison Square Garden Thursday in search of an offensive identity, and following a 63-58 loss to St John’s Saturday night, the search continues.
They aren’t the first team to struggle putting the ball in the basket, and they won’t be the last. However, any answers to the questions of “identity” are still lingering.
Coach Beard’s opening statement after the loss to St. John’s after @OleMissMBB made a comeback to pull within 2. pic.twitter.com/4Rq1bjwrGf
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) December 7, 2025
It Will Take A Team Effort, and this team needs an identity
It’s clear the talent is there. We’ve had games where Ilias Kamardine balls out. Malik Dia is an All-SEC player. AJ Storr is a vet that’s been up and down. Corey Chest and Patton Pinkins are quality role players. James Scott is glue in spurts. Giffa is graceful around the rim.
We’ve seen the frustration in press conferences as well as on the floor. Winning meaningful basketball games is HARD. It’s why good players command top NIL money and great coaches bring in the big bucks.
There just isn’t a singular lineup at the moment where it all comes together on both the offensive and defensive end. Ole Miss has to figure out how to utilize the ball-handling abilities of Ilias with the post game of Dia, as well as the catch and shoot ability of Pinkins, all while putting other pieces together to beat multiple kinds of teams.
How do you want to play? Dribble drive? Pick and roll? Heavy motion sets?
Do you trust your teammates to be in a certain place when the game goes to chaos?
Right now, it looks like the Rebels are still trying to figure it out.
They’ll need to figure it out soon.
The talent is there for the people a few blocks over on Wall Street to “buy low” on this squad, and maybe their investment will pay off. Once again, we’ve seen the talent.
Can a this set of good individual players become a good team?
There Will Be More Opportunities for Good Wins
It shouldn’t come as a surprise but: The Southeastern Conference will provide ample opportunities for Quad 1 wins. North Carolina State is still on the docket. The name of the game is to win Q1 games while avoiding Q3 and Q4 losses.
Ole Miss is yet to achieve a signature win in the first quarter of their season, but also has not suffered a “bracket busting defeat.”
While the Rebels are not making things easy on themselves, they show that they can hang with good teams, with the next step of course being “beating” them.
I remember Frank Martin’s South Carolina teams being notorious for beginning years slow, messy, but with little “huh” moments of potential. By the time conference play came around, those Gamecock teams were as tough as any in the conference. Their 2017 Final Four team had eleven losses!
If Ole Miss puts it together, it may be a year where the win-loss column looks a little more rough, but ends on a high note!
If they do not, this will be a year where talent and skillsets simply don’t fit together. It is too early to set a verdict, but Ole Miss is putting themselves against the wall before Christmas.
This is a High Variance Year in College Hoops
Purdue just lost by 23 at home to Iowa State. Gonzaga followed a 40 point defeat loss against Michigan with a 35 point win against Kentucky. Teams with all but completely new rosters are playing like teams that well— are learning to play together!
Does that mean Ole Miss will turn things around? Not necessarily. These next few weeks may be important in deciding how the Rebels want their season to turn out.
However, they haven’t been outclassed in any of their matchups. The difference from “OK” to “Good” is fixed a few possessions at a time.
Does that mean that Ole Miss will figure it out? No. But are they fully capable? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Matt Barnthouse
Matt Barnthouse has over seven years experience working at the youth, high school, and Division I levels of basketball, and currently is at University of Cincinnati as a graduate student and instructor, while doing consulting work, as well as freelance graphics for various Division I teams and players.
Barnthouse spent four years as a student-manager with the Ole Miss Men’s Basketball team, helping them to four winning seasons, as well as an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015.
While at Ole Miss, Barnthouse assisted in all parts of basketball operations, including recruiting, on-court drills, analytics, and film. Following his four-year stint with the Rebels, the redshirt junior declared for the 2017 NBA Draft, where he went undrafted.
After his Spring 2017 graduation from Ole Miss with a degree in Journalism, Barnthouse spent the summer as a basketball coach at Camp Androscoggin, one of the northeast’s oldest and most prestigious summer camps.
Barnthouse resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, and spends his free time watching film and playing with his Corgi, Brady.
